CHEAP RAW MATERIAL

After surveying the history of child labor, a premier nonfiction author for young adults presents a shocking report: Such exploitative use of young people is not just "a plague of the past." Meltzer uses numerous first-person accounts from investigators and young workers to document the sordid working conditions and meager pay that were characteristic during the period when American factories, mines, and mills were being built; employers fought efforts to regulate them as "socialistic" and eulogized the "character-building" benefits of working to children, especially immigrants. The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 promised an end to exploitation; but the examples here show that it still exists, especially among immigrants and the poor, and is still justified with the same arguments from employers. Especially compelling are stories of teenagers dying in dangerous work situations. A rousing call for decency and social justice. (Nonfiction. 12+)