Two explosions in US working-class history are the focus of the volumes under review. The first pre-dated the emergence of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), many of whose tough-minded organizers were in the process of emerging from the Marxist-influenced First International. AFL chief Samuel Gompers referred to the 1877 labor upsurge in this way: “Made desperate by the accumulation of miseries, without organizations strong enough to conduct a successful strike, the railway workers rebelled. Their rebellion was a declaration of protest in the name of American manhood against conditions that nullified the rights of American citizens. The railroad strike of 1877 was the tocsin that sounded a ringing message of hope to us all.”