The world’s labor systems started to change in the late 1400s. Though agriculture was still the center piece of the worlds production systems, new forms of labor began to appear. Technology reduced the number of people needed to operate a farm efficiently in Europe while the rise of the plantation economy in the Americas and South East Asia fueled the demand for cheaper labor. Spurred by the increase in agricultural efficiency and the raw materials provided by plantations around the world, a growth in manufacturing occurred which fueled massive economic growth. The workbook examines how labor changed as a result of new technology and European imperialistic expansion.

The author approaches the changes in a unique fashion. Each assignment addresses life before European involvement and life after European involvement. The author starts with a discussion of what constitutes forced labor and then identifies three types of forced labor. This allows the student to better understand the readings that follow. When discussing Native American economics and labor practices, the readings not only address the Inca and Aztecs but also expand this analysis to North American Native economic and labor systems. This topic is rarely addressed in high school and middle school workbooks or textbooks. Also, this workbook approaches slavery as a global system. The workbook discusses slavery in the Indian Ocean World before European involvement and then links this Indian Ocean slave trade to the Atlantic slave trade after European involvement. It also examines indentured servitude and links the decline of indentured servitude with the rise of slavery. Though indentured servitude is often defined as a form of forced labor, the author has the student address this question directly and asks the student to form their own conclusion.

The workbook has two other interesting designs. First, it includes a glossary with each assignment. This is a form of scaffolding that will help students better understand the readings. Second, the book has a group of interactive assignments at the end of the Document Based Questions (DBQs) that help bring all the readings together. These assignments are unique, suitable for group learning and use active learning strategies.

Though the book is designed as a DBQ workbook, the author has designed the workbook so that individual readings can be assigned separately and independently. An assignment with ten readings can easily be broken into ten separate assignments.