This Book examines the history of American labor unions' efforts to expand the welfare state from 1935 to 2010. The author argues that while labor unions were initially successful in shaping legislation during the New Deal era, they faced increasingly difficult political obstacles in the postwar period. The main challenges stemmed from the rise of the Conservative Coalition in Congress, a group of Southern Democrats and Republicans that consistently blocked labor-backed legislation. The author analyzes how these institutional constraints, along with other factors such as the evolution of the Democratic Party and the rise of the filibuster, shaped labor's ability to achieve its policy goals. The book concludes with a discussion of the Obama administration's attempts to enact ambitious reforms like universal healthcare and labor law reform, and it suggests that labor's future success will depend on overcoming the political obstacles it has faced for decades.
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