Focusing on the operation and influence of the Knights of Labor—the leading labor organization of the nineteenth century— Workingmen's Democracy  explores the dreams, achievements, and failures of a movement that sought to renew the democratic potential of American institutions. Runner-up in both the John H. Dunning Prize and Albert J. Beveridge Award competitions "The pick of a growing crop of studies on the American working class."-- The Nation "An important work, the best of several recent volumes on the Knights."-- American Historical Review Leon Fink is Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. His books include The Long Gilded Age: American Capitalism and the Lessons of a New World Order and Workers in Hard Times: A Long View of Economic Crises .