Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | TEEN 973.8 GRE | Searching... Unknown |
Bound With These Titles
On Order
Summary
Summary
When many Americans think of the Gilded Age, they picture the mansions at Newport, Rhode Island, or the tenements of New York City. Indeed, the late 19th century was a period of extreme poverty thinly veiled by fabulous wealth. However, we should not remember the era only for the strides made by steel magnate Andrew Carnegie or social reformer Jane Addams. All Americans had to adjust to the dynamic social and economic changes of the Gilded Age--the booming industries, growing cities, increased ethnic and cultural diversity. African American W. E. B. Du Bois, Native American Sitting Bull, and Chinese American Saum Song Bo spoke out against racial injustice. European immigrants Mary Antin and Robert Ferrari suffered the pitfalls and praised the opportunities found in their new country. Pioneer Phoebe Judson lamented the loneliness of making a life out West. And workers at Homestead Steel lost their lives in an attempt to improve labor conditions. Drawing from the letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, journals, and speeches of Gilded Age Americans, author Janette Greenwood arranges all of these voices to tell a story more vibrant and textured than the simple tale of robber baron versus starving poor. In addition to these voices, visuals--such as advertisements, maps, political cartoons, and a picture essay on Jacob Riiss urban photographs--create a kaleidoscopic view of the quarter century when diverse Americans struggled for the same goal: a better way of life, with more justice and democracy for each and all. PAGES FROM HISTORY General Editors: Sarah Deutsch, University of Arizona, Carol Karlsen, University of Michigan, Robert G. Moeller, University of California, Irvine, and Jeffrey N. Wasserstrom, Indiana University, Bloomington Textbooks may interpret history, but the books in the Pages from History series are history. Each title, compiled and edited by a prominent historian, is a collection of primary sources relating to a particular topic of historical significance. Documentary evidence including news articles, government documents, memoirs, letters, diaries, fiction, photographs, and facsimiles allows history to speak for itself and turns every reader into a historian. Headnotes, extended captions, sidebars, and introductory essays provide the essential context that frames the documents. All the books are amply illustrated and each includes a documentary picture essay, chronology, further reading, source notes, and index.
Author Notes
Janette Thomas Greenwood is Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at Clark University. Her previous works include Bittersweet Legacy: The Black and White "Better Classes" in Charlotte, N.C. 1850-1910 (UNC Press, 1994), The Black Experience in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 1850-1920: A Curriculum Guide for Teachers (C-M Historic Properties Commission, 1984) and On the Home Front: Charlotte During the Civil War(Mint Museum of History, 1982).
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-This series entry brings to life an exciting time in U.S. history. During the last 25 years of the 19th century, immense wealth coexisted with extreme poverty, new inventions appeared, and industrialization and immigration were transforming the country's social fabric. Greenwood discusses the period objectively in a concise, lively commentary that frames scores of primary sources and black-and-white reproductions and photos that effectively capture most aspects of post-Civil War America. Among the written documents are a labor-movement recruitment song, interviews with black "Exodusters" in Kansas, the reminiscences of Andrew Carnegie, essays for and against the Spanish-American War and territorial expansion, and a Scribner's magazine editorial defining the proper place of middle-class women. Coverage of women and minorities is noteworthy. A fine source for both school assignments and browsing pleasure.-Starr E. Smith, Fairfax County Public Library, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Horn Book Review
This ambitious collection uses primary sources to paint a broad portrait of the social issues in post-Civil War America. Grouped under topics such as western expansion or labor disputes, passages by luminaries such as W. E. B. DuBois or Jane Addams offer firsthand accounts of conditions or political stances, while generous contemporary photos, political cartoons, and reproductions illustrate the book. Bib., ind. From HORN BOOK Spring 2001, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Gr. 6^-12. In a satirical novel that gave the Gilded Age its name, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner depicted the post^-Civil War years as rampantly prosperous, materialistic, and corrupt. But, as Greenwood shows in this multidimensional text, the period was actually as diverse as any time in U.S. history. Including a broad range of documents, which she defines as everything from diaries and editorial cartoons to mail-order catalogs and family photographs, she gives her book broad appeal. There's plenty to absorb and much to capture the imagination. Two-thirds of each spread is devoted to text that blends extensive author-driven information with excerpts from various documents. The remainder of the spread comprises quotations, photos, drawings, and brief articles that add dimension to the main narrative. Covering topics from immigration, farming, and labor to the West, women, and leisure, Greenwood presents the history as a seamless tapestry sewn by the people who lived it. --Roger Leslie
Table of Contents
What Is a Document? | p. 6 |
How to Read a Document | p. 8 |
Introduction | p. 11 |
Chapter 1 Big Business, Industry, and the American Dream | p. 13 |
Captains of Industry | p. 16 |
Muckraking | p. 18 |
"Survival of the Fittest" | p. 20 |
Responsibilities of the Rich | p. 24 |
From Rags to Riches | p. 26 |
Chapter 2 Immigration to a "Promised Land" | p. 29 |
Arrival | p. 33 |
Opportunity | p. 35 |
Sacrifices | p. 38 |
Racism | p. 40 |
Advice | p. 45 |
Chapter 3 The Sorrows of Labor | p. 49 |
The Knights of Labor | p. 51 |
The Haymarket Affair | p. 53 |
Trade Unions | p. 55 |
Industrial Unions | p. 57 |
Women in the Work Force | p. 59 |
Child Labor | p. 62 |
The Homestead Lockout | p. 64 |
Chapter 4 The Perils and Promise of Urban Life | p. 67 |
Social Activism | p. 71 |
Social Darwinism | p. 76 |
Ward Bosses | p. 78 |
Prohibition | p. 79 |
Chapter 5 Picture Essay | |
Jacob Riis and the Power of the Photograph | p. 83 |
Chapter 6 The New South | p. 91 |
A Sharecropper's Contract | p. 94 |
"A Perfect Democracy" | p. 96 |
Cotton Mill Workers | p. 99 |
The Rise of "Jim Crow" | p. 100 |
Chapter 7 The West | p. 115 |
An Indian Victory | p. 120 |
"Whitening" Indians | p. 123 |
Pioneers | p. 127 |
Exodusters | p. 129 |
Mexican Americans Fight Back | p. 130 |
Chapter 8 The Farmers' Revolt | p. 133 |
Farmers' Alliances | p. 138 |
The Populist Party | p. 143 |
Election 1896 | p. 148 |
Chapter 9 The United States Builds an Empire | p. 153 |
The Spanish-American War | p. 157 |
Anti-Imperialism | p. 162 |
The Philippines | p. 163 |
Chapter 10 New Women, Strenuous Men, and Leisure | p. 171 |
"The Strenuous Life" | p. 173 |
Sports | p. 175 |
Rebellious Women | p. 178 |
Timeline | p. 180 |
Further Reading | p. 182 |
Text Credits | p. 185 |
Picture Credits | p. 187 |
Index | p. 188 |