Whether in 1870 or in 2003, reformers concerned with the global logic of capitalism have dreamed of effective international labor standards, imposed through a world body that would stop the downward spiral of wages and working conditions. Here Edward Lorenz offers us a history of US political debates over the International Labor Organization (ILO), founded precisely to stop that spiral. His study provides a comprehensive overview of the different big-level national interests who sought, alternately, to support, contain, or repress the ILO. It's full of enticing research leads and fascinating tidbits about US debates over the ILO. International Labor and Working-Class History (ILWCH) readers, though, will still be left frustrated in their efforts to understand US involvement in the ILO and, especially, organized labor's relationship to it.