AN ENCORE FOR REFORM

by ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 4, 1967

The Progressives of the early Twentieth Century United States were earnest believers in the ideal of democratic government, but as a party they were fast subsumed into the all-embracing social programs of the Roosevelt Administrations. Graham investigates the relationship between the two movements through a large sampling of Progressive biographies--muckraker Lincoln Steffens, poet Edgar Lee Masters, columnist Walter Lippman are a few of the more famous men involved. He reveals a wide variety of positions from left to right of the New Deal. The majority of them fell to the right of Roosevelt, believing that his view of government control contradicted their less rigid beliefs. These soon fell away from politics altogether, into disillusionment with their country's future. Some stayed on in politics and civic groups during the New Deal. A few took a position to the left of the Democrats and criticized Washington from a socialist field of vision. Graham's book is admittedly limited to men and not their programs. That would be another text. But the heritage of the Progressives is clearly revealed, and the irony of their lives is all the more bitter because of it. Rewarding.

Pub Date: May 4, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Oxford

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION