The Declaration proclaimed all men created equal, yet the new nation’s economy depended on enslaved labor in the South and indentured servitude in the North. This contradiction would shape American ...

Even as the pandemic continues to alter our work and education patterns, Labor Day still serves as marker of the transition from one season to the next. It began as a day of celebration of the ...

“In postwar America, fast food was seen as a ladder to the middle class,” says journalist and author Adam Chandler. “If you were part of a familiar chain, banks were willing to lend you money, and ...

This is Work in Progress, a newsletter by Derek Thompson about work, technology, and how to solve some of America’s biggest problems. Sign up here to get it every week. Here is a history of work in ...

In Make Your Own Job, Erik Baker shows just how long Americans have scrambled to pile work on top of work—and at what cost. A woman moves to comfort a coworker who is slumped over her desk in despair, ...

"Women's Work" at the New-York Historical Society tells an expansive story about women's labor over the last 300 years. Installation view of "Women's Work" at the New-York Historical Society. Photo by ...