This collection of essays provides a generous introduction to the vibrant field of labour and working-class history in Canada's eastern provinces. Organized in four sections covering pre-industrial labour, the industrial revolution, labour's wars of the early twentieth century, and the rise of industrial legality, the book should prove useful in university classrooms and for all readers interested in the history of the region's ordinary people. Concluding chapters address topics of current interest such as public sector unionism, the role of women in the fishery, and the horrors of the Westray mine disaster. The editors provide an introduction, section heads, and suggestions for further reading.

The volume is edited by David Frank, Department of History, University of New Brunswick, the former editor of Acadiensis, and Gregory S. Kealey, Department of History, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Dean of Graduate Studies. Authors include T.W. Acheson, Rusty Bittermann, Sean Cadigan, Jessie Chisholm, Patricia M. Connelly, Peter DeLottinville, E.R. Forbes, Eugene Forsey, Harry Glasbeek, Linda Little, Martha MacDonald, Robert McIntosh, Ian McKay, D.A. Muise, Nolan Reilly, Eric W. Sager, Anthony Thomson, and Eric Tucker.

David Frank is a leading figure in Canadian history. He taught for over 30 years at the University of New Brunswick, and he has written six books on Atlantic Canadian labour history. His articles on labour and social history have appeared in numerous books and journals.

Frank also edited Acadiensis, a leading journal in the study of the Atlantic region, for 12 years, where he also edited many books on the subject at Acadiensis Press. Previous teaching stints saw Frank take posts at the University College of Cape Breton and Atlantic Region Labour Education Centre. He has also contributed journalistic work to Canadian outlets in radio, television, magazines, and newspapers.

Fascinated with J. B. McLachlan from his undergraduate days at Dalhousie University, Frank researched J.B.’s story through the coal towns of Cape Breton through to libraries and archives across Britain, Canada, and the United States. The first edition of this biography is considered a classic in the field of Canadian social and labour history. He lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

David Frank's profile page

Gregory S. Kealey is a professor emeritus in the Department of History at the University of New Brunswick. He is the editor of University of Toronto Press’s Canadian Social History Series and former president of the Canadian Historical Association and the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

Gregory S. Kealey's profile page

"These collections of essays are useful as readers in courses, but for specialists in working-class history, they are interesting in and of them selves. Labour and Working-Class History in Atlantic Canada assembles a useful collection that reflects years of sophisticated research, prolific publication, and a rich historiography."

Laurel Sefton MacDowell, International Labor and Working-Class History