"What few historians are successful in doing, Sean Griffin accomplishes masterfully: making sense of a complicated story by bridging studies in labor and antislavery and standing among those scholars— Bruce Laurie, Mark Lause, and Keri Leigh Merritt, to name a select few—who have explored the relationship between slavery, antislavery, and free labor." —Ryan McIlhenny, American Historical Review
"Well-researched and convincingly argued, [The Root and the Branch] deftly brings two historiographies into conversation with each other. Both labor historians and scholars of abolitionism will need to engage with Griffin’s important new book." —Peter Wirzbicki, Journal of Social History
“By weaving together the narratives of labor reform and antislavery activism, Griffin offers a deeper understanding of the complexities and interdependencies that characterized two of the most prominent nineteenth-century social movements. His work opens a door for future historians… [and] offers helpful correctives to the New History of Capitalism.” Grant Stanton, Journal of the Early Republic
"Griffin's notable achievements include following the transmutation of ideas and political engagement across multiple locations and organizations, whilst answering the call issued long ago by Eric Foner to fill out the way that various groups understood the term free labor." —Rosemary Feurer, American Nineteenth Century History
“Published in a moment of political realignment and uncertainty, The Root and the Branch offers a hopeful, spirited account of bold experiments in intellectual work and civil society organizing.” — Pamela Nogales, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History
“The Root and Branch brings together histories of American antislavery and of nineteenth-century labor reform exceptionally well to show how these movements intersected more frequently and more meaningfully than is typically understood. By bringing together these movements so fully and extensively, this book offers an invaluable contribution to scholarship on both American antislavery activism and labor radicalism.” —Corey Brooks, author of Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics
"Well-researched and convincingly argued, [The Root and the Branch] deftly brings two historiographies into conversation with each other. Both labor historians and scholars of abolitionism will need to engage with Griffin’s important new book." —Peter Wirzbicki, Journal of Social History
“By weaving together the narratives of labor reform and antislavery activism, Griffin offers a deeper understanding of the complexities and interdependencies that characterized two of the most prominent nineteenth-century social movements. His work opens a door for future historians… [and] offers helpful correctives to the New History of Capitalism.” Grant Stanton, Journal of the Early Republic
"Griffin's notable achievements include following the transmutation of ideas and political engagement across multiple locations and organizations, whilst answering the call issued long ago by Eric Foner to fill out the way that various groups understood the term free labor." —Rosemary Feurer, American Nineteenth Century History
“Published in a moment of political realignment and uncertainty, The Root and the Branch offers a hopeful, spirited account of bold experiments in intellectual work and civil society organizing.” — Pamela Nogales, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History
“The Root and Branch brings together histories of American antislavery and of nineteenth-century labor reform exceptionally well to show how these movements intersected more frequently and more meaningfully than is typically understood. By bringing together these movements so fully and extensively, this book offers an invaluable contribution to scholarship on both American antislavery activism and labor radicalism.” —Corey Brooks, author of Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics