It would be an ironic but welcome development if the contemporary, coterminous affliction of both Brazilian and United States societies with right-wing populist regimes—Bolsonaro’s in Brazil, Trump’s in the U.S—should spur a wider intellectual focus on historical parallels and interactions across these two hemispheric behemoths. If so, The Entangled Labor Histories of Brazil and the United States will surely be counted an important step forward. Ranging from World War I through the Cold War era and mixing comparative with transnational approaches, this volume stirs fresh thinking about workers, race and gender, the military, and the state in both countries.

Leon Fink, University of Illinois at Chicago

Offering fresh transnational perspective on the entangled labor histories of Brazil and the US, this eye-opening collection shows us what good things can happen when histories of labor are jolted from entrenched national frameworks. A must-read for anyone interested in the fascinating dynamics that have shaped these two most populous nations of the Western Hemisphere in each other’s reflection.

Brodwyn Fischer, University of Chicago

The Entangled Labor Histories of Brazil and the United States provides new ideas about ongoing debates. As Barbara Weinstein well says in her postscript, this book demonstrates that “a transnational approach is capable of enhancing any area of historical interpretation” (p. 242). Whether you study the worlds of work in a particular country, region, or continent, labor history emerges as a special research field for a transnational perspective, and this book is the proof of it.

H-Net: Humanities and Social Science Reviews Online