In November 2020, The New York Times asked fifteen on its columnists to 'explain what the past four years have cost America.' Not one of the columnists focused on President Trump's racism. This book seeks to redress this imbalance and bring Black Americans' role in our economy to the forefront....

Chapter 1: Introduction. Women’s work in the Netherlands and Java, 1830-1940 -- Chapter 2: An exceptional empire? Dutch colonialism in comparative perspective -- Chapter 3: Industrious women in an imperial economy: The Cultivation System and its consequences -- Chapter 4: Industrialisation,...