Introduction: Labor Day in America -- Worlds of work: economy and civil society. The industry: Gannett and Knight-Ridder -- Detroit: labor and community -- A "daily miracle": the life of the workplace -- The institutional regulation of labor. Proper channels: U.S. labor law and union-management relations -- The path to confrontation: the newspapers' joint operating agreement in Detroit -- Extraordinary measures: planning for war -- War of position: the 1995 contract negotiations -- The spaces of conflict. Worlds collide: the start of the strike -- Law and violence: permanent replacements and the control of collective action -- Theaters of engagement: state and civil society -- Waiting for justice: the return to work and the end of the strike -- Governing the workplace: American labor today. Conclusion: a signal juncture.