Literary Learning explores the nature of literary knowledge and offers guidance for effective teaching of literature at the college level. What do English majors need to learn? How can we help them develop the skills and knowledge they need? By identifying the habits of mind that literary scholars use in their own research and writing, Sherry Lee Linkon articulates the strategic knowledge that lies at the heart of the discipline, offering important insights and models for beginning and experienced teachers.

"We put the working class, in all its varieties, at the center of our work. The new working-class studies is not only about the labor movement, or about workers of any particular kind, or workers in any particular place even in the workplace. Instead, we ask questions about how class works for people at work, at home, and in the community. We explore how class both unites and divides working-class people, which highlights the importance of understanding how class shapes and is shaped by race, gender, ethnicity, and place. We reflect on the common interests as well as the divisions between the most commonly imagined version of the working class industrial, blue-collar workers and workers in the 'new economy' whose work and personal lives seem, at first glance, to place them solidly in the middle class." from the Introduction

In John Russo and Sherry LeeLinkon's book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class life.

Contributors: Robert Bruno, University of Illinois; Renny Christopher, California State University Channel Islands; Jim Daniels, Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh; Elizabeth Faue, Wayne State University; Lisa Jordan, University of Minnesota; Paul Lauter, Trinity College; Sherry Lee Linkon, Youngstown State University; Jack Metzgar, Roosevelt University in Chicago; Don Mitchell, Syracuse University; Kimberley L. Phillips, The College of William and Mary; Alessandro Portelli, University of Rome La Sapienza; David Roediger, University of Illinois, Rachel Lee Rubin, University of Massachusetts Boston; John Russo, Youngstown State University; Tim Strangleman, London Metropolitan University; Tom Zaniello, Northern Kentucky University and George Meany Center for Labor Studies; Michael Zweig, State University of New York at Stony Brook"

In John Russo and Sherry Lee Linkon's book, contributors trace the origins of the new working-class studies, explore how it is being developed both within and across fields, and identify key themes and issues. Historians, economists, geographers, sociologists, and scholars of literature and cultural studies introduce many and varied aspects of this emerging field. Throughout, they consider how the study of working-class life transforms traditional disciplines and stress the importance of popular and artistic representations of working-class life.

Since the 1970s, working-class individuals have made up an increasing proportion of students enrolled in institutions of higher education. At the same time, working-class studies has emerged as an academic discipline, updating a long tradition of scholarship on labour history and proletarian literature to include discussions of working-class culture, intersections of class with ethnicity, and studies of the representation of the working class in popular culture. These developments have generated ideas about teaching that incorporate both a sensitivity to the working-class roots of many students and the inclusion of course content informed by an awareness of class culture. This volume brings together 19 essays that offer approaches to a class-conscious pedagogy. Although the contributors represent several fields - including English, history, labour studies, literature, speech communication and American studies - they are united by the conviction that class matters in all kinds of courses. Their essays offer models for interdisciplinary teaching as well as guidance, encouragement and insight for those wishing to incorporate class into their courses.

Literary Learning explores the nature of literary knowledge and offers guidance for effective teaching of literature at the college level. What do English majors need to learn? How can we help them develop the skills and knowledge they need? By identifying the habits of mind that literary scholars use in their own research and writing, Sherry Lee Linkon articulates the strategic knowledge that lies at the heart of the discipline, offering important insights and models for beginning and experienced teachers.