For the Love of Labor

Cathryn J. Prince's For the Love of Labor chronicles Pauline Newman's life from her childhood in Lithuania and work in New York sweatshops to her decades of activism with the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union.

The book details Newman's organizing of rent strikes and the Uprising of the 20,000, her role after the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, and her advocacy for workplace safety, health services, and labor legislation.

Prince explores Newman's long personal relationships, including a fifty-year partnership with a woman, and how her identity shaped both private and public life.

The biography situates Newman within broader labor, feminist, and political movements, showing her ability to translate protests into lasting policy gains.

It argues that Newman's legacy endures in labor health initiatives and New Deal-era reforms, emphasizing the importance of legal and institutional change for workers' rights.