One of the most violent business-labor clashes of this turbulent period involved a company that typified the new industrial economy: Carnegie Steel, which by 1892 had risen to become the nation's largest steelmaker. Because of the prominence of its owner and because it was industries such as steel that were driving this new economy, the strike at Carnegie's Homestead steel plant in western Pennsylvania became an emblematic struggle of the age. Prior to the strike, Carnegie had publicly endorsed unionization and had settled earlier disputes with his workers on relatively generous terms. But the man he chose in 1889 to manage affairs at his Homestead mills, Henry C. Frick, was made of different stuff. As an operator of coal mines, Frick had established a reputation not only as a shrewd manager, but also as a tough union buster; in 1890 he had violently suppressed strikes at...