Civilizing Capitalism

“Storrs probes a heretofore neglected period in NCL activity. . . . Her attentiveness to the nuances of political context and to the give-and-take required to maneuver within them constitutes a triumph of the historian’s craft. Similarly, Storrs’s evaluations of historiographical arguments . . . are extremely valuable, particularly to the non-specialist.” — Journal of Women’s History

“A valuable history of an organization that is often too readily dismissed in the years following the Progressive Era. . . . Storrs is at her best when she tackles the minute detail of the policies, ideologies, and strategies behind the creation of labor regulation during the depression. . . . Civilizing Capitalism convincingly shows the complex, frustrating, and ultimately inadequate development of federal labor regulation during the 1930s.” — Journal of American History

“[A] rich and well-searched book . . . with detailed narrative and strong analysis. . . . [Provides] fruitful and original analyses of the relations among women’s political movements and consumption.” — Reviews in American History

“[An] expertly researched and richly woven history.” — American Historical Review

“[A] clearly written and deeply researched book. . . . [that] deserve[s] wide attention and recognition.” — Enterprise & Society

“A fascinating account. . . . [The] description of the fight for labor rights in the Southern states is an especially rich rendering. . . . Storrs is skillful in [her] creation of a balanced portrait of the strengths and shortcomings of 'equality' versus 'difference' feminism, as the concepts played out with respect to the workplace of the twenties and thirties.” — Journal of Economic History

“In this clearly written and briskly argued book, Landon Storrs makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of struggles over the government’s authority to regulate business, a core issue in American liberalism. . . . Her in-depth historical analysis of fair labor standards . . . should be required reading for those who study labor, public policy, and women’s history, and for contemporary anti-sweatshop activists.” — North Carolina Historical Review

“This study is particularly timely in light of current controversies over the minimum wage and labor standards in Third World countries and the resurgence of consumer activism.” — CHOICE

“Civilizing Capitalism provides a truly revisionary understanding of American liberalism and the emergence of the modern welfare state. Previous studies of the National Consumers' League have truncated its history by concentrating exclusively on the Progressive Era. Taking a longer view, Landon Storrs provides a new understanding of the impact of women reformers and so-called 'maternalist' politics on the New Deal. She makes race, women, and the South central to a story that has focused for too long on economics, men, and the Northeast. In so doing, she not only alters the history of reform thought. She also draws critical lessons from the present. Both Civilizing Capitalism and the social democratic feminism it chronicles offer 'a prescription for good citizenship that has not lost its potency with time.'” — Jacquelyn Dowd Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

“Historians have long appreciated the reform vision of the National Consumers' League, but they will appreciate the NCL even more after reading Landon Storrs’s persuasive and compelling account of its role in the formulation and implementation of fair labor standards in the 1920s, 1930s, and beyond.” — Susan Ware, Radcliffe College