Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920

This very incisive, though often quite critical, book examines some of the major cultural currents in American society from the end of Reconstruction through WWI. It is the prevailing thinking and psychology of the period that most concerns the author. The book is not intended to be a detailed history of the era, but the author does examine such issues and developments as race, immigration, the degradation of labor, the rise of huge corporations, economic instability, consumerism, populism, progressivism, imperialism, militarism, etc, as well as reinvention of the self. There is little doubt that the nation was in need of "regeneration" after the horrors of the Civil War. But that renewal was accomplished at the expense of those who were brutally affected by the Southern plantation system. The War was recast as an arena for heroic Anglo-Saxons, now united in their bravery regardless of which side they were on. By the last decade of the century, emancipation had given way to Jim Crow and, even worse, widespread lynching of those who did not kowtow. This spread of racism, heroism, and militarism dominated the ensuing decades. The author describes at length a national obsession among the upper classes of asserting and proving manliness. What better way to show superiority than to subject the brown peoples of the world to Yankee imperialism backed by the military? Theodore Roosevelt, in the author's eyes, is the epitome of such thinking and actions. The author scarcely hides his disdain for the obsession of elites with individual adventure and even bodybuilding. Of course, a huge development in post-Civil War America was the rise of enormous corporations and their huge impact on workers and the broader culture. The Farmers' Alliance, the Populists, the Knights of Labor, the AFL, and the Socialists were all organizations that sought to counter corporate control of the economy and the degradation of work via mechanization and scientific management. They extolled the virtues of "producers" and sought to establish some form of cooperative commonwealth. Perhaps most important to them was democratic control of the financial system of the US. The chaos of economic cycles and principles of "hard" money always disproportionately affected workers and farmers. Part of the rebirth of the nation can be looked at as attempts for purification. That took many forms: racial purity, assertion of manliness versus effeteness, and abstinence from alcohol. The Progressive movement can be seen as an effort of elites and experts to purify the economy: child labor laws, anti-trust legislation, reform of the banking system, and the like. As the author notes, their efforts were heavily compromised. Enhanced managerialism was emphasized over fundamental economic restructuring desired by populist groups and administrative regulation was usually adopted over statutory reform, which left corporations and their insiders firmly in charge. Woodrow Wilson succumbed to the impulses

Rebirth of a Nation: The Making of Modern America, 1877-1920 (American History) In 1981 the young historian Jackson Lears impressed many with his publication of No Place of Grace, an interpretation of the antimodern strain in American thought and culture between 1880 and 1920. Lears neatly argued how the quest for intense experience, although seemingly just a back-channel reaction against the mainstream of modernism, carved the way for the transformation of nineteenth-century Protestant self-denial into the twentieth-century secular ideal of self-fulfillment. In 2009 Lears, now at the apex of his career, takes on the same era with his broad overview of American politics and culture, Rebirth of a Nation. It is the work of a mature scholar, sufficiently accomplished to play on the same field with the most eminent historians of this segment of the American past, with Hofstadter, Wiebe, Lasch, Trachtenberg, and many others dutifully acknowledged in a very helpful set of bibliographical notes. A major contribution of this volume is Lears' demonstration of the bonds between the narratives of personal and national regeneration in this period. The self-shaping aspirations of individuals influenced the currents of national politics, he proposes, and in turn public policies were often aimed at personal redemption. Longings for renewal formed by evangelical traditions melded into several "isms" that characterized the era: moralism, militarism, and Progressivism chief among them. The connections were most obvious in the moralist "purity crusades," such as those against alcohol and gambling. But the linkage was also evident in the government's Native American and foreign policy, which gave scope to the male fantasy of revitalization through military action -- war was seen as wholesome by many. And the belief that social circumstances influenced individuals' fates lay at the core of Progressivism, with the corollary belief that social purification could breed personal purification. Lears believes that future government policies were still up for grabs in the 1890s. He points out that reformers used the language of personal and social transformation, that "They wanted to use government to change people's behavior in unprecedented ways: to end class conflict, to control big business, to segregate society, to sober it up." He stresses the "producerism" of that period, which attempted to unite farmers and workers as the true representatives of "manly" ideals of economic independence, set against their common enemies in finance and business. Wealthy Americans defended their privileges by cooperating with reformers on some things, Lears observes. For instance, many prominent business leaders supported the agenda of self-renewal and imperial expansion. Lears claims that Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan, in particular, "helped to transform a plutocracy into a socially conscious elite." He notes a re-orientation of ruling class values from moralism

Jackson Lears "Rebirth of a Nation" is a work of major historical significance that explores an era that is often overlooked in the study of American history. Lears aptly and clearly explains both the unsettled politics and political economy of America between 1877 and 1920. His work explores the rise of monoply capitalism and the response to it by a variety of political movements like the populitsts and reformers of the time in general. In addition, "Rebirth of a Nation" demonstrates the twist Americans put on their imperalist ambitions viz their attempts to differentiate American empire building from European empire building, as well as their simularities as defined by the popular racism of the day. This is a must read book that is destined to become a standard text for anyone interested in the field. And you can't began to understand the context in which progressivism emerged without taking Lears work into account.