DOC Punishment in Paradise: Race; Slavery; Human Rights; and a Nineteenth-Century Brazilian Penal Colony by Peter M. Beattie in History

Description

For more than a century and a half―from the middle of the 19th century to the end of the 20th―the garment industry was the largest manufacturing industry in New York City; and New York made more clothes than anywhere else. For generations; the industry employed more New Yorkers than any other and was central to the city’s history; culture; and identity. Today; although no longer the big heart of industrial New York; the needle trades are still an important part of the city’s economy―especially for the new waves of immigrants who cut; sew; and assemble clothing in shops around the five boroughs. In this valuable book; historians; sociologists; and economists explore the rise and fall of the garment industry and its impact on New York and its people; as part of a global process of economic change. Essays trace the rise of the industry; from the creation of a Manhattan garment district employing immigrants from nearby enements to the contemporary spread of Chinese-owned shops in cheaper neighborhoods. The tumultuoushistory of workers and their bosses is the focus of chapters on contractors and labor militants and on the experiences of Italian; Chinese; Jewish; Dominican; and other ethnic workers. The final chapter looks at air labor; social responsibility; and the political economy of the offshore garment industry.