"Amid a time of turmoil, the ""afflicted girls"" of 1692 Salem, Massachusetts cried out against scores of accused witches. Smallpox epidemics, drought, and Native American attacks unsettled Puritan society. Witch hysteria arose, then, with charges against a beggar and a slave and later swept up children and respected church members. Within a year, public reaction to the accusations -- and to the deaths of 20 people -- put an end to the witch trials. Court transcripts and contemporary accounts give insight into the events of 1692, from the words of those who lived and died during the trials."

Labor historian Juliet Mofford presents the story of workers in the U.S. from the late 1700s to the present: the Industrial Revolution, the formation and role of unions, the quest for political reform, and the ongoing efforts for fair and safe labor conditions for migrant workers. Thoughts on labor from Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Samuel Gompers, Eugene Debs, Grover Cleveland, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, FDR, John L. Lewis, Cesar Chavez, JFK, and others are presented in their own words.

@lt;DIV@gt;Children have always worked to help their families, on farms and in the home. With the growth of factory labor and increasing numbers of immigrants arriving in the U.S., children began working more and more. Accounts from children and their bosses, the development of new labor laws, and the efforts of labor reformers tell the story of child labor from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the reform era.@lt;/div@gt;