Transforming America in 1903: A Landmark Year in the History of the United States

1903 was a seminal but overlooked year in the development of the United States. Through an analytical narrative of 31 historic events, this book examines how these 12 months would prefigure and shape significant transformation in the U.S.A. for over a century to come. In the late nineteenth century, America emerged as an increasingly urbanized and industrialized society connected to an informal global empire. Americans struggled with the fears and divisive issues that were manifestations of the great economic, social, and cultural changes impacting the country. To meet the challenges of change in a quest for defining America’s post-Civil War identity, the American people pursued ideas and promoted movements aimed at creating reform, unity, order, and prosperity. This volume identifies 1903 as a vital moment for capturing America’s pulse as it encountered modernity, exploring the context and consequences of key events including the first successful manned flight in a motorized heavier-than-air machine, the first around-the-world telegraph communication, the first transcontinental automobile trip, the founding of the Ford Motor Company, the nation’s first lone-gunman random mass shooting, the first blockbuster movie, and America’s acquisition of the Panama Canal Zone. Providing engaging reading for students and scholars of the emergence of Modern America and the Progressive Era, Transforming America in 1903 presents an in-depth depiction of a groundbreaking year.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Technology Introduction to Part 1: Technology 1. The Wright Brothers’ Conquest of the Air 2. The First Around-the-World Telegraph Communication 3. The First Transcontinental Automobile Trip 4. The Birth of Modern Air Conditioning. Part 1: Questions to Consider Part 2: Culture Introduction to Part 2: Culture 5. The Great Train Robbery as the First Blockbuster Movie 6. The National Pastime and the First World Series 7. The New Colossus and the Statue of Liberty 8. Filming the Electrocution of Topsy the Elephant 9. America’s First Lone-Gunman Random Mass Shooting. Part 2: Questions to Consider Part 3: Literature Introduction to Part 3: Literature 10. W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Souls of Black Folk 11. Helen Keller’s The Story of My Life 12. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Home 13. Jack London’s The People of the Abyss 14. Henry James’s The Ambassadors. Part 3: Questions to Consider Part 4 Reform Introduction to Part 4: Reform 15. Theodore Roosevelt and the First Federal Bird Reserve 16. Harvey Washington Wiley’s “Poison Squad” 17. The Founding of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography 18. Carry A. Nation’s Prohibition Crusade in Washington, D.C. 19. America’s Deadliest Single-Building Fire 20. Robert La Follette’s Statewide Direct Primary Law. Part 4: Questions to Consider Part 5: Business Introduction to Part 5: Business 21. Walter Dill Scott’s The Theory of Advertising 22. The Founding of the Ford Motor Company 23. Gillette Safety Razors and the Emergence of a Disposable Culture 24. The Founding of the Du Pont Company’s Experimental Station 25. Frederick Winslow Taylor’s Scientific Management Part 5: Questions to Consider Part 6: Labor Introduction to Part 6: Labor 26. The Precedent of Labor Arbitration by Federal Intervention 27. The Japanese-Mexican Labor Association 28. The Founding of the National Women’s Trade Union League. Part 6: Questions to Consider Part 7: Power Introduction to Part 7: Power 29. The Lottery Case and the Regulating of Interstate Commerce 30. Leasing Guantanamo Bay 31. Acquiring the Panama Canal Zone Part 7: Questions to Consider Epilogue

About the Author :
Steven E. Siry is Professor of History at Baldwin Wallace University. His previous books include Liberty’s Fallen Generals: Leadership and Sacrifice in the American War of Independence (2012), Greene: Revolutionary General (2006), and DeWitt Clinton and the American Political Economy: Sectionalism, Politics, and Republican Ideology, 1787–1828 (1990).