Abstract
Paul Kahan quotes Mark Twain at the outset: “History does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme” (4). Indeed, echoes of late nineteenth-century class conflict, inequality, and exploitative working conditions resonate in disturbing ways today, and Kahan’s acknowledgment that “contemporary events inspired [him] to write” about this iconic 1892 labor battle is refreshing (4). Current relevance provides one of two compelling reasons that Homestead warrants renewed attention, the other being that Paul Krause’s Battle for Homestead, the best devoted, extant treatment of this topic, is twenty-three years old and over fve hundred pages long. Kahan’s take appears in a Routledge series aiming to deliver concise accounts of pivotal episodes in US history while offering students “a window into the historian’s craft."