About the Book
This book offers a one-stop reference work covering the Gilded Age and Progressive Era that serves teachers and their students.
This book helps students to better understand key pieces in literature from the Gilded Age and Progressive Era by putting them in the context of history, society, and culture through historical context essays, literary analysis, chronologies, documents, and suggestions for discussion and further research. It provides teachers and students with selections that align with the ELA Common Core Standards and that also offer useful connections for curriculum that integrates American literature and social studies.
The book covers Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Charlotte Perkins Gilman's The Yellow Wallpaper, Willa Cather's A Lost Lady, and Upton Sinclair's The Jungle. Readers will be able to appreciate the significance of this period through these canonical and widely taught works of American literature. The book also includes historical context essays, primary document excerpts, and suggested readings.
Table of Contents:
Series Foreword,
Chronology of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era,
Part I: The Gilded Age
Introduction and Background: The Gilded Age,
1 A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain, 1889),
Synopsis of A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court,
Historical Background: A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court in the Gilded Age,
About Mark Twain,
Why We Read A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court Today,
Historical Explorations of A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court,
Historical Exploration: The Gilded Age, The Middle Ages,
Historical Exploration: Industrial Technology,
Historical Exploration: Social Turmoil in Gilded Age America,
Historical Exploration: Social Ills and Social Health in Gilded Age America,
Documenting the Gilded Ages and the Middle Ages,
Document: From The Bradley-Martin Ball, February 10, 1897 (reported in the New York Times),
Document: From W[illiam] J[ames] Ghent, Our Benevolent Feudalism, 1902,
Document: From Terence Powderly, The Path I Trod, 1940,
Document: From Carroll D. Wright, "In Mediaeval and Modern Industry," in The Battles of Labor, 1906,
Document: From Henry Adams, "The Dynamo and the Virgin," in The Education of Henry Adams, 1900,
Documenting Industrial Technology,
Document: From William Dean Howells, "Characteristics of the International Fair," Atlantic Monthly, October 1876,
Document: From Henry George, Progress and Poverty, 1879,
Document: From Rex Beach, The Iron Trail, 1913,
Document: From Frances Willard, "Telegraph and Telephone Girls," in Occupations for Women, 1897,
Documenting Social Turmoil in Gilded Age America,
Document: From Jacob Riis, "The Down Town Back-Alleys" and "The Problem of the Children," in How the Other Half Lives, 1890,
Document: Griffith J. Griffith, "San Quentin As I Knew It," in Crime and Criminals, 1910,
Document: From Ida B. Wells-Barnett, "Lynch Law in America," in The Arena, January 1900,
Document: Richard Le Gallienne, The Illusion of War, in The Silk-Hat Soldier and Other Poems in War Time, 1915,
Documenting Social Ills and Social Health in Gilded Age America,
Document: From Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward—2000–1887, 1888,
Document: From Andrew Carnegie, The Gospel of Wealth, 1889,
Document: From William Graham Sumner, "That It Is Not Wicked to Be Rich" and "Laissez Faire," in What Social Classes Owe Each Other, 1884,
Document: From Henry George, "The Problem," in Progress and Poverty, 1879,
Document: From Jack London, "What Life Means to Me," in Cosmopolitan, 1905,
Suggested Readings,
2 "The Yellow Wallpaper" (Charlotte Perkins Gilman, 1892),
Synopsis of "The Yellow Wallpaper,"
Historical Background: "The Yellow Wallpaper,"
About Charlotte Perkins Gilman,
Why We Read "The Yellow Wallpaper" Today,
Historical Explorations of "The Yellow Wallpaper,"
Historical Exploration: Women's Health,
Historical Exploration: "Interiors,"
Historical Exploration: Citizen Reformers in Gilded Age and Progressive America,
Documenting Women's Health,
Document: From S. Weir Mitchell, Fat and Blood, 1877,
Document: From George M. Beard, American Nervousness, 1881,
Document: From Lydia E. Pinkham, Treatise on the Diseases of Women, 1901,
Documenting "Interiors,"
Document: From M. E. Kenney, "Decorative Fashions and Fancies," in Good Housekeeping, 1890,
Document: From Edith Wharton and Ogden Codman, Jr., The Decoration of Houses, 1897,
Document: From Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Home, 1903,
Documenting Citizen Reformers in Gilded Age and Progressive America,
Document: From Frances Willard, "Chances for Colored Girls," in Occupations for Women, 1897,
Document: From Jane Addams, Democracy and Social Ethics, 1902,
Document: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper," 1913,
Document: From Crystal Eastman, "Birth Control in the Feminist Program," 1918,
Suggested Readings,
Part II: The Progressive Era
Introduction and Background: The Progressive Era,
3 The Jungle (Upton Sinclair, 1906),
Synopsis of The Jungle,
Historical Background of The Jungle,
About Upton Sinclair,
Why We Read The Jungle Today,
Historical Explorations of The Jungle,
Historical Exploration: The Workplace and the Progressive Era,
Historical Exploration: Immigrant Voices,
Historical Exploration: Officials for a Better World,
Documenting the Workplace,
Document: From Frances Willard, "Occupations that Kill," in Occupations for Women, 1897,
Document: From Jack London, Martin Eden, 1909,
Document: From Jack London, "The Apostate," in Woman's Home Companion, 1906,
Document: From Mary Harris, "The March of the Mill Children," in The Autobiography of Mother Jones, 1925,
Document: From Walter Rauschenbusch, "For Children Who Work," in For God and the People: Prayers of the Social Awakening, 1910,
Documenting Immigrant Voices,
Document: From Sui Sin Far, "Mrs. Spring Fragrance," 1910,
Document: From Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky, 1917,
Document: From Walter Rauschenbusch, "For Immigrants," in For God and the People: Prayers of the Social Awakening, 1910,
Documenting Officials for a Better World,
Document: From Theodore Roosevelt, The Man with the Muck-Rake, 1906,
Document: From John Dewey, The School and Society, 1915,
Document: From Walter Rauschenbusch, "For Employers," in For God and the People: Prayers of the Social Awakening, 1910,
Document: From Woodrow Wilson, The State: Elements of Historical and Practical Politics, 1907,
Document: From Lincoln Steffens, "Introduction and Some Conclusions," The Shame of the Cities, 1904,
Suggested Readings,
4 A Lost Lady (Willa Cather, 1924),
Synopsis of A Lost Lady,
Historical Background: A Lost Lady,
About Willa Cather,
Why We Read A Lost Lady Today,
Historical Explorations of A Lost Lady,
Historical Exploration: Property,
Historical Exploration: Propriety,
Historical Exploration: America the Beautiful,
Documenting Property,
Document: From Elizabeth Cady Stanton, "Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions," 1848,
Document: From Hamlin Garland, "Under the Lion's Paw," in Main-Traveled Roads, 1891,
Document: From Anthony Trollope, The Way We Live Now, 1875,
Documenting Propriety,
Document: From M.E.W. Sherwood, Manners and Social Usages, 1887,
Document: From Havelock Ellis, Studies in the Psychology of Sex: The Evolution of Modesty, The Phenomena of Sexual Periodicity, Auto-Erotism, 1899,
Document: From Boy Scouts of America: The Official Handbook for Boys, 1911,
Documenting America the Beautiful,
Document: From Sarah Orne Jewett, "A White Heron," 1886,
Document: From John Muir, "The Treasures of the Yosemite" and "Features of the Proposed Yosemite National Park," 1890,
Document: From Theodore Roosevelt, "Wilderness Reserves," in American Big Game in Its Haunts, 1904,
Suggested Readings,
Index,
About the Author :
Wendy Martin is professor of American literature and American studies and director of the Tufts Poetry Awards Program at Claremont Graduate University.
Cecelia Tichiis the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English and professor of American studies at Vanderbilt University.
Review :
[T]his is a good resource for those embarking on the study of U.S. literature; in addition, it will be helpful for students of education, since it illustrates how to plan an instructional unit for high school students to explore. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates; general readers.
Overall, The Gilded Age and Progressive Era is a well-written, informative, and thought-provoking book. This volume is a useful tool to help readers understand the sometimes perplexing works of the American past, with their unfamiliar language and references to obsolete technologies, such as the telegraph. Therefore, this volume is highly recommended for purchase by all public and academic libraries.
