This book presents an analysis amd review of work, starting with the Homeric period, then dealing with classical Greece and classical Rome, the early Christians and Jews, the early Middle Ages, the era of Charlemagne, the high Middle Ages, the views of Luther and Calvin, the English and French Enlightenment, the nineteenth century, the twentieth century, and prospects for the future of work. It offers a rich and varied tapestry on the complexity of values regarding work, criss-crossing through crafts, occupations and professions, through slave and free-born employments, through lay and religious figures, and through rural and urban contexts. The permutations of work and its meanings are traced and related to the social and cultural contexts of each period of history dealt with - ancient, medieval, and modern.

Applebaum offers projections for work in the future, based on modern-day technologies, along with work within the context of new social conditions created by industrial cultures in the modern period. The future of work is examined as one of the key elements for the possibility of change in the social structure of industrial cultures. At a time when so many people are questioning the work ethic, this book provides a valuable perspective on work in past societies, how it has developed and been transformed, and what are its prospects for the future.