"A phantasmagoric mixture of wit and witness."--Edward Rothstein, The New York Times
"An instant classic.... These hundreds of thoughtful passages...represent the total spectrum of the complicated feelings we have about our jobs.... There's genuine wisdom and thoughtfulness on all of these pages about nothing less than our roles and responsibilities as human beings living in societies."--Forbes
"An amazingly varied collection of poems, snippets of novels, newspaper articles, diaries, socialist denunciations and capitalist celebrations about the experience of working, from the farmers of ancient Greek times to modern office workers.... Thomas makes labor come to life by charting a stark, great historical conflict in the value given to working, a conflict between those who believe work is degrading and those who believe we fulfill ourselves through our jobs."--Richard Sennett, The Los Angeles Times Book Review
"Some of the most vivid and insightful writings about work"--Baltimore Sun
"An incredible chorus of voices...all single-mindedly devoted to telling what work has really been about over the centuries."--The Chicago Tribune

I THE NATURE OF WORK; I. The Primal curse; II. Compensations and Rewards; III. All in a Day's Work; II KINDS OF WORK; IV. Woman's Work and Child Labour; V. Working the Land and Sea; VI. All Manner of Occupations; VII. Head Work; III THE REFORM OF WORK; VIII. Dissatisfactions; EPILOGUE; IX. Life after Work; Acknowledgements; Index of Authors and Sources Quoted