The Oxford Book of WorkKeith Thomas Primal curse or sacred duty? Painful drudgery or the only sure route to human happiness? Work has always evoked conflicting reactions. Yet whether we view it as a tedious necessity or embrace it as a compulsive addiction, it remains an inescapable and endlessly fascinating part of the human condition. To illuminate the changing experience of work, this deeply enjoyable anthology draws upon more than 500 writers from classical antiquity to modern times: poets, dramatists and novelists; theologians, economists and philosophers; social investigators and journalists; diarists, letter-writers and autobiographies. Charles Aickens, Adam Smith, Anthony Trollope, Mark Twain, Washington Irving, Karl Marx, Tolstoy, George Eliot, Henry Ford, John Steinbeck, Primo Levi, Upton Sinclair, Simone de Beauvoir, Robert Frost, Tom Wolfe, Harriot Martineau, Louisa Alcott, and Dorthy Parker are among the diverse and distinguished authors included in this volume. While Keith Thomas explores many different forms of work--from ploughing a field to sailing the sea, from mining for coal to writing a poem, and from keeping shop to practicing medicine--he does not forget housework, schoolwork, and other forms of unpaid labor. All human life is here: young people starting work, the multitudes seeking employment, the old coping with retirement, and utopians seeking to eliminate work altogether. The delights of occupation and the harshness of compulsory labor are contrasted with the pleasures of rest and idleness. Keith Thomas's magisterial compilation and scintillating introductory essay show that work does not just provide us with the means of subsistence; it also makes possible all the pleasures and acievements of civilization. The publication date for The Oxford Book of Work is Labor Day--September 6, 1999. |
Contents
The Iron Age the Fall of Man the Human Inclination to Idleness | 11 |
Economic Necessity | 23 |
འསྐྱ | 37 |
Work as the Distinguishing Human Attribute | 88 |
Work as Religious Duty | 96 |
The Division of Labour | 109 |
Work as Social Discipline | 120 |
Work as the Route to Human Sociability | 133 |
Sailors | 360 |
Craftsmen | 364 |
Miners | 381 |
Factory Workers | 396 |
Shopkeepers and Salesmen | 402 |
Sweepers Cleaners and Shovellers | 413 |
Waitresses and Waiters | 423 |
HEAD WORK | 435 |
The Pleasures of Occupation | 140 |
Singing at Work | 156 |
Work as a Remedy for Grief | 159 |
Work as Addiction | 169 |
The Tedium of Idleness | 185 |
The Psychological Necessity of Work | 201 |
Looking for a Job | 207 |
Beginners | 219 |
The Daily Grind | 237 |
Recreation and Weekends | 244 |
Holidays | 256 |
WOMENS WORK AND CHILD LABOUR | 273 |
Housework by Men | 298 |
WORKING THE LAND AND SEA | 308 |
Rural Crafts | 318 |
Tillers of the Soil | 331 |
Threshers | 345 |
Office Workers | 446 |
Clergy Doctors and Lawyers | 455 |
Schoolteachers | 474 |
Writers | 482 |
Students Scholars and Scientists | 492 |
DISSATISFACTIONS | 507 |
The Tyranny of the Clock | 515 |
Job Insecurity | 525 |
Inequity of Conditions and Rewards | 532 |
Direct and Indirect 555555 | 545 |
In Defence of Idleness | 559 |
Towards Utopia | 567 |
LIFE AFTER WORK | 587 |
Acknowledgements | 602 |
Index of Authors and Sources Quoted | 613 |
Copyright | |