Seth Rockman's Scraping By: Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival in Early Baltimore gives the social, economic, and political history of early Baltimore. Rockman's thesis is how the modern American working class comes from the low-wage workers of the early American republic period. Presenting why the low-wage workers were central to the creation of the United States as the wealthiest western society, Rockman delves into capitalism and the creation of the market revolution of the early republic period and its effects on the consequences of the working people across race and gender. Focusing on individuals to drive the economic and political thread narrative, Rockman creates a story while telling the bare facts and statistics of labour in early Baltimore.

The body of work is broken up into eight chapters with individuals representing the chapter's main idea carrying the narrative of the book forward. The way Rockman sets up the book makes a possibly boring topic come to life in the reader's mind when attached to an individual. The main points touched upon the growing workforce in Baltimore as a whole, men working, women working, how race and social class affected the working class, living wages, failure to make living wages, and how the market affected the working class as whole.

Using the micro example of Baltimore with the focus on labour, Rockman starts off with the impact of slavery on capitalism and how slavery blurred the line of interchangeability of labourers "with term slaves, rented slaves, self-hiring slaves, indentured servants, redemptioners, apprentices, prisoners, children, and paupers occupying the space in between" (Rockman 7). Reading Scraping By can be for a general audience or those interested in race and labour. The work by Seth Rockman is more modern so it can appeal to a wider audience than older pieces on the subject. Readability is a primary key when appealing to the general public and Scraping By has that appeal. The narrative thread throughout the book and Rockman's ability to shape the narrative while driving the main points of his thesis home make this work a read people will find interesting. The thought process and layout of Rockman is easy to read and understand.

Fitting into the category of labour literature, Rockman's work opens up the field for more research in the historiography of gendered economic dependence and the colored labour market. Building on gender, class, and race he offers images of an America that is ever-improving to make national gains. Rockman himself states in the section essay of sources that there is still much work to be done in the area of research and in the city of Baltimore. Unable to touch on everything, Rockman does not point out that Baltimore did not create the idea of mixed labour but recreated a system from an earlier time in American history.

A reviewer had a criticism of Rockman's inability to bring a coherent story of Baltimore's labour class. Claiming that Rockman merges together three separate unskilled labour forces – white male, white female, and African American male and females – into one unskilled labour force narrative is I believe a gross misrepresentation of Rockman's narrative. He tries clearly to show the separation between race and gender throughout his work. Seth Rockman shows his thesis' credence through sources and narrative. Through the lens of Baltimore, readers will learn how the early American republic period gives rise to the creation of the working class of people in America. Seth Rockman puts forth a great work of literature.