A young worker at the C & NW RR 40th Street shops, Chicago, Ill, photograph by Jack Delano, 1942. Library of Congress.

A young worker at the C & NW RR 40th Street shops, Chicago, Illinois, 1942. Photograph by Jack Delano. Library of Congress.

Lines of Work

Volume IV, Number 2 | spring 2011

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Women become skilled shop technicians after careful training in the school at the Douglas Aircraft Company plant, Long Beach, CA, photograph by Alfred T. Palmer, 1942. Library of Congress.

Preamble

The Servant Problem

By Lewis H. Lapham

It is man’s nature to be doing something, or at least to fancy that he’s doing something, but to what purpose?

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Tools of the Trade

By Peter Stothard

Slavery was the energy industry of the ancients—no part of the empire was untouched by its effects.

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Map

Cornering the Market

The countries that rule the industries.

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3761 BC | Eden

Labor Contract

God’s punishment for pursuing low-hanging fruit.More

c. 1923 | Paris

Mutual Interest

The courting of Marie Curie.More

1776 | London

Divide and Conquer

Adam Smith’s parable of the pin maker.More

Charts & Graphs

The Worst Jobs in the World

A matrix of unsavory employment.

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Black and white photograph of English poet and librarian Philip Larkin.

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

French author Émile Zola.

Roman playwright Terence.

Italian literary critic and novelist Umberto Eco.

Black and white image of English scholar, writer, and clergyman Robert Burton.

Black and white image of Greek biographer and writer Plutarch.

Man is a tool-using animal. Nowhere do you find him without tools; without tools he is nothing, with tools he is all.

—Thomas Carlyle, 1836

Color portrait of German theologian and reformer Martin Luther.

British philosopher, logician, and social critic Bertrand Russell.

Martin Luther & Bertrand Russell

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