The November 29, 2009, edition of The New York Times includes a review of Lara Vapnek’s new book Breadwinners: Working Women and Economic Independence, 1865-1920.

Ms. Vapnek, who teaches history at St. John’s University, chronicles the labor movement through capsule biographies of largely forgotten individuals who had a profound impact on the lives of working women. Her account is national in scope, but New York women figure in it prominently.