During the 1930s and 1940s, collective bargaining emerged as the workplace governance norm in much of the U.S. industrial sector. Following its peak in the 1950s, union density in the U.S. private sector fell steadily, to only 7.4 percent in 2006. Governance shifted from a formalized union norm...

Introduction -- Shortages and strikes, 1945-1948 -- The era of "The treaty of Detroit," 1949-1950 -- No longer the arsenal of democracy, 1951-1952 -- A post-Korean War boom, 1953 -- A "painfully inconvenient" recession, 1954 -- The fifties in one year, 1955 -- "A severe and prolonged hangover,"...