Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Abbreviations used in text and notes; Introduction; 1. Rethinking the New Deal: the logic and limits of the American political economy; 2. Competition and collective action: business condition and business strategies, 1920–1932; 3. Workers organising capitalists: regulatory unionism in American industry, 1920–1932; 4. The limits of associationalism: business organisation and disorganisation, 1920–1932; 5. The National Recovery Act: the political economy of business organisation, 1933–1935; 6. The Wagner Act: the political economy of labour relations, 1933–1937; 7. The Social Security Act: the political economy of welfare capitalism, 1920–1935; 8. New Deal, old deck: business, labour, and politics after 1935; Notes; Bibliographical essay; Manuscript collections.

Promotional Information

This book, an economic history of the interwar era, is the first major reinterpretation of the New Deal in thirty years.

Reviews

"Gordon's most original contribution to the literature on corporate influence on the New Deal is developed in his discussion of labor policy...Gordon gives us a much better understanding of the complexities of business' relationship with the New Deal." Elizabeth Fones-Wolf, Business History Review "Gordon's account is well researched and carefully argued...readers will find Gordon's perspective on business, labor, and the New Deal fresh and stimulating..." West Virginia History "...valuable, synthesizing work...one of the first to delineate clearly changing patterns of business legislative actions during the depression decade. Thoroughly grounded in secondary and primary sources, and including an up-to-date bibliographic essay, this work is especially suitable for upper-division undergraduate and graduate students studying recent American history." Choice "This is an impressive book. The argument throughout is presented in a cognent, lucid style. The research in new or seldom-used sources and the command of a wide range of business histories is exceptional. The analysis is always provocative...Gordon demands the serious attention of any scholar interested in the New Deal and the history of the 20th century's political economy." David E. Hamilton, Labour/Le Travail