Caitlin Rosenthal is a historian of 18th- and 19th-century U.S. history. Her work focuses on the development of management practices, and seeks to blend methods and insights from business history, economic history, and labor history. Her current book project, tentatively titled From Slavery to Scientific Management (under contract at Harvard University Press) investigates the complex relationship between slavery and capitalism in American history. Traditional narratives in business and economic history begin in the factories of England and New England, extending only much later to the American South. From Slavery to Scientific Management begins instead on West Indian sugar plantations in the late 18th century, tracing the development of business practices forward to the rise of Taylorism in the early 20th century.

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