Common Labor: Workers and the Digging of North American Canals, 1780-1860Canal construction played a significant role in the rise of industrial America opening up new markets, employing an army of workers, and initiating the ties between capital and government that remain important to this day. In this highly acclaimed study, Peter Way challenges conventional views of the part these workers played in the early republic and of the culture they created. Common Labour traces a dark picture of powerlessness, depravity, and