This important reference work focuses on the lifestyles and economic life of working class families and looks, decade by decade, into the kind of work they did, the homes they lived in, the food and clothes they bought, the entertainment they sought as well as the society and history that shaped the world Americans worked in from 1880 to 1999. From the wealth of government surveys, social worker histories, economic data, family diaries and letters, newspaper and magazine features, this unique reference assembles a remarkably personal and realistic look at the lives of ordinary working Americans.

Each chapter of Working Americans, 1880-1999 Volume 1: The Working Class covers one decade, except the first chapter (1888-1899), and opens with an overview of important events to anchor the decade in its time frame. The working class is then explored by examining the lives of three to five working class families.