Skip to main content

What is a précis for the book A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 by McGerr?

McGerr's A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 is a study of the Progressive Era. The author tries to make sense of the many impulses and agendas that defined the Progressive Era. He locates the source of the movement in the impulses and anxieties of the middle class at the time and states that:



Progressivism was the way in which these Victorian men and women came to answer the basic questions of life . . . What is the individual? What is the relationship between the individual and society? (xiv).



In other words, Progressivism was led by middle-class people reacting to the excesses of the Gilded Age and trying to determine the extent to the which the individual bore responsibility for his or her society and was connected to the larger society. He traces the ways in which the Victorian middle class took on four specific battles: to change big business, change people, put an end to class conflict, and deal with segregation. The author focuses on both the larger and more apparent political battles the Progressives waged but also the smaller, more domestic questions they wrestled with (such as divorce and gender roles).


The author recognizes the limits of Progressivism, including its unwillingness to totally restructure the economy and its acceptance of segregation. As the author writes, "the Progressives turned to segregation as a way to halt dangerous social conflict" (page 183). In other words, the Progressives saw segregation as a way to protect groups such as African-Americans and Native Americans from destruction.


McGerr's argument is based on a wide range of sources, including both public acts and laws, the writings of private individuals, and cultural sources, such as reporting on sports. The author states that it's important to understand the Progressive Era because it set the stage for the political battles that would be waged for the rest of the 20th century.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of the greeting "Sweet dreams".

Does anybody know the etymology of the phrase "sweet dreams"? I tried googling but did not find anything satisfying. Is this a relatively new phrase of the modern world or has this been in use for some time? I think it's the latter one. Answer The OED has the interjection as "a farewell to someone going to bed" from the 20th century: 1908 Sears Roebuck Catal. 198/1 Tenor Solos..Good Bye, Sweet Dreams, Good Bye. But it goes back until at least the 19th and possibly 18th centuries. John Wolcot, writing under the pseudonym of Peter Pindar, used it in his poem "Orson and Ellen; A Legendary Tale" published in 1801: Also from 1801 in The infernal Quixote (Page 287) by Charles Lucas: In the March 1776 of The Universal Magazine was published "The Serenade. A Pastoral Tale. From the German of Gesner" , where the shepherd Daphnis watches over his beloved as she sleeps and sings: The same tale appears in 1776's as Idyl XI, " Daphnis ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What are the similarities between the relationships of the characters in The Outsiders and Romeo and Juliet?

At first glance, it might appear as if the characters in  The Outsiders  by S. E. Hinton and  Romeo and Juliet  by William Shakespeare do not have much in common; however, when one isolates the core of the conflicts, it becomes clear that the relationships in both stories are rooted in rivalry and secrecy.  In both  The Outsiders  and  Romeo and Juliet , an overarching theme is rivalry. While   socioeconomic status separates the greasers from the Socs in The Outsiders , last names separates the Montagues from the Capulets, who appear to be relatively equal in terms of socioeconomic status. Due to these rivalries, there are instances of deadly interactions in both stories. In  The Outsiders , Johnny kills Bob (whether his actions were justified or not is debatable). In  Romeo and Juliet , Romeo kills Tybalt and Paris, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. These deaths have profound effects on the main characters. In Ponyboy's case, the Johnny's death and other events in the novel inspire h...
Post a Comment
Read more