A brief, interpretive analysis of the highly ambitious American reform movements from the 1890s to 1917 that shows progressivism to have been a vital and significant phenomenon although there was no unified progressive movement. Link and McCormick succeed in making the events comprehensible while at the same time conveying a strong sense of the complexity and contradictions of the era.
Table of Contents:
One: Progressivism in History 1
Who Were the Progressives? 3
The Origins of Progressivism 11
The Character and Spirit of Progressivism 21
Two: A Transformation of Politics and Government 26
Progressivism in the Cities and States 28
Progressivism Moves to Washington 34
The Decline of parties and the Rise of Interest Groups 47
The Transformation of Governance 58
Three: Social Justice and Social Control 67
The Social Progressives 72
The Reforming Professionals 85
The Coercive Progressives 96
Four: Epilogue: The Decline and Endurance of Progressivism 105
Bibliographical Essay 119
Index 141
About the Author :
Arthur Stanley Link was an American historian and educator, known as the leading authority on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. Richard Levis McCormick is a historian, professor and president emeritus of Rutgers University.
Review :
"In this brief volume, Arthur Link and Richard L. McCormick have succeeded admirably in providing a stimulating overview of the various forces that served to shape the spirit and ideology of the progressive movement. ...they focus sharply on the array of ideological currents that variously characterized progressivism, thus giving it a texture that makes this dynamic reform period in American history much easier to understand." (The History Teacher, May 1994)
