An Archaeology of Unchecked Capitalism - by Paul Shackel (Paperback)

About the Book

By drawing parallels between the past and present - for example, the coal mines of the nineteenth-century northeastern Pennsylvania and the sweatshops of the twenty-first century in Bangladesh - we can have difficult conversations about the past and advance our commitment to address social justice issues.

Book Synopsis

The racialization of immigrant labor and the labor strife in the coal and textile communities in northeastern Pennsylvania appears to be an isolated incident in history. Rather this history can serve as a touchstone, connecting the history of the exploited laborers to today's labor in the global economy. By drawing parallels between the past and present - for example, the coal mines of the nineteenth-century northeastern Pennsylvania and the sweatshops of the twenty-first century in Bangladesh - we can have difficult conversations about the past and advance our commitment to address social justice issues.

Review Quotes

"Highly recommended." - Choice

"This is an important and insightful book that demonstrates how social injustice is perpetuated in the legacy of exploitation in the past and our failure to protect developing nations from the same fate in the present." - Antiquity

"This is a magnificent book and deserves to be widely read. At a time when many people around the world are losing faith in politicians and American global leadership it illustrates how historical archaeology can connect past and present and reveals how the 'slow violence' of industrial capitalism has devastated landscapes and continues to blight the lives of transgenerational global communities." - James Symonds, University of Amsterdam

About the Author

Paul Shackel is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Maryland. His research projects have focused on the role of archaeology in civic engagement activities related to race and labor. A sample of his work on this topic includes: New Philadelphia: An Archaeology of Race in the Heartland (2011), and a coauthored volume with Barbara Little - Archaeology, Heritage and Civic Engagement: Working toward the Public Good (2014). He recently published Remembering Lattimer: Migration, Labor, and Race in Pennsylvania Anthracite Country (2018) which focuses on labor and migration in northern Appalachia in the United States.