In gilded America, rampant inequality led to the emergence of a new form of Christianity, a form that sought to alleviate the suffering of the poor not only by saving their lives but by transforming society. In the Industrial Union, Heath Carter presents a bold new interpretation of the origins of American social Christianity. While historians often attribute the rise of the social gospel to middle-class ministers, college professors, and social reformers, this book puts people at the heart of the story.

The main characters - blacksmiths, glove makers, teamwork, printers, and the like - were mostly forgotten, but as Carter convincingly argues, their collective contribution to Christian American Christianity was no less important than that of Walter Rauschenbusch or Jane Addams . Carter highlights readers in the bustling history of Chicago dating back to the late 19th century, and shows that countless working-class believers participated in heated discussions about the effects of Christianity on society, often with the same enthusiasm as other contests on wages.

The length of the working day. Socialists, socialists and anarchists in the city offered a theological critique of non-interference capitalism and protested the "frenzied ministers" who rallied to the business elite.

Their criticism has exacerbated the Church leaders' concern about the loss of the poor. By the end of the century, many senior Christians argued that the only way to save America's Christian hopes was for churches to relax their position on the "question of action." As a religious community then, it became clear that the social gospel was, in fact, up from the bottom.

At a time when the fate of the labor movement and growing economic inequality are once again pressing social concerns, Union Med opens the door to a new way forward by changing the way we think in the past.