Cornell University Press has just published The New Rank and File edited by Staughton and Alice Lynd, two people who, as William Serrin said, "have devoted their lives to making America a better country." Much has changed for workers in the years since their classic Rank and File: Personal Histories by Working-Class Organizers was first published in 1973.

International Conference on Slavery, Unfree Labour & Revolt in Asia and the Indian Ocean Region
Avignon, 17-19 May 2001

Call for Papers

An international conference on Slavery, Unfree Labour and Revolt in Asia and the Indian Ocean Region will take place in Avignon from 17-19 May 2001. It will examine protest against slavery and other forms of unfree labour in Asia and the Indian Ocean region. Themes include:

Pour bien commencer le nouveau millénaire

La revue Itinéraire vient d'éditer un agenda pour l'année 2001. Couverture quadri, 130 pages intérieures en 2 couleurs -- afin de ne pas oublier ses rendez-vous et les dates importantes de l'histoire de l'anarchie.

The International Institute of Social History is offering four presentations of parts of its collections:

Mark Solomon, The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Americans, 1917-1936. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1998. viii + 403 pp. Introduction, notes, bibliographical essay, index. $50.00 (cloth), ISBN 1-57806-095-8.

Reviewed for H-POL by James G. Ryan, Department of General Academics, Texas A&M University at Galveston.
Published by H-POL, October 2000.

One Group's Liberation; Everybody's Freedom

Mark M. Smith, Debating Slavery: Economy and Society in the Antebellum American South. New Studies in Economic and Social History. Cambridge, England and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998. xii + 117 pp. Illustrations, bibliographical references, index. $39.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-521-57158-8.

Reviewed for H-SOUTH by Eric Tscheschlok, Department of History, Auburn University.
Published by H-SOUTH, October 2000.

W. Patrick McCray, Glassmaking in Renaissance Venice: The Fragile Craft. Brookfield, Vermont and Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 1999. xii + 240 pp. Illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography index. $84.95 (cloth), ISBN 0-7546-0050-5.
Luca Molà, The Silk Industry of Renaissance Venice. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000. xix + 457 pp. Illustrations, tables, notes, bibliography index. $48.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-8018-6189-6.

Ronald Grigor Suny, The Soviet Experiment. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998. xvii + 540 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliographical references and index. $29.95 (paper), ISBN 0-19-508105-6.

Reviewed for H-RUSSIA by Robert Lewis, Exeter University.
Published by H-RUSSIA, October 2000.

Understanding Twentieth-Century Russia

At the latest update (October 2000) the following sites were added to the WWW Virtual Library: Labour and Business History, bringing the total number to 1,662.

Just published are the first two volumes of a 10 volume edition of papers of Willy Brandt called the Berlin Edition.