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The Populist Moment: A Short History of the Agrarian Revolt in America (Galaxy Books)
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The Populist Vision
In the late nineteenth century, monumental technological innovations like the telegraph and steam power made America and the world a much smaller place. New technologies also made possible large-scale organization and centralization. Corporations grew exponentially and the rich amassed great fortunes. Those on the short end of these wrenching changes responded in the Populist revolt, one of the most effective challenges to corporate power in American history. But what did Populism represent? Half a century ago, scholars such as Richard Hofstadter portrayed the Populist movement as an irrational response of backward-looking farmers to the challenges of modernity. Since then, the romantic notion of Populism as the resistance movement of tradition-based and pre-modern communities to a modern and commercial society has prevailed. In a broad, innovative reassessment, based on a deep reading of archival sources, The Populist Vision argues that the Populists understood themselves as--and were in fact--modern people, who pursued an alternate vision for modern America. Taking into account both the leaders and the led, The Populist Vision uses a wide lens, focusing on the farmers, both black and white, men and women, while also looking at wager workers and bohemian urbanites. From Texas to the Dakotas, from Georgia to California, farmer Populists strove to use the new innovations for their own ends. They sought scientific and technical knowledge, formed highly centralized organizations, launched large-scale cooperative businesses, and pressed for reforms on the model of the nation's most elaborate bureaucracy - the Postal Service. Hundreds of thousands of Populist farm women sought education, employment in schools and offices, and a more modern life. Miners, railroad workers, and other labor Populists joined with farmers to give impetus to the regulatory state. Activists from Chicago, San Francisco, and other new cities provided Populism with a dynamic urban dimension This major reassessment of the Populist experience is essential reading for anyone interested in the politics, society, and culture of modern America..
Price: $26.18
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Liberty Men and Great Proprietors: The Revolutionary Settlement on the Maine Frontier, 1760-1820 (Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture)
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The Radical Middle Class: Populist Democracy and the Question of Capitalism in Progressive Era Portland, Oregon (Politics and Society in Twentieth Century America)
America has a long tradition of middle-class radicalism, albeit one that intellectual orthodoxy has tended to obscure The Radical Middle Class seeks to uncover the democratic, populist, and even anticapitalist legacy of the middle class. By examining in particular the independent small business sector or petite bourgeoisie, using Progressive Era Portland, Oregon, as a case study, Robert Johnston shows that class still matters in America. But it matters only if the politics and culture of the leading player in affairs of class, the middle class, is dramatically reconceived. This book is a powerful combination of intellectual, business, labor, medical, and, above all, political history. Its author also humanizes the middle class by describing the lives of four small business owners: Harry Lane, Will Daly, William U'Ren, and Lora Little. Lane was Portland's reform mayor before becoming one of only six senators to vote against U.S. entry into World War I. Daly was Oregon's most prominent labor leader and a onetime Socialist. U'Ren was the national architect of the direct democracy movement. Little was a leading antivaccinationist. The Radical Middle Class further explores the Portland Ku Klux Klan and concludes with a national overview of the American middle class from the Progressive Era to the present. With its engaging narrative, conceptual richness, and daring argumentation, it will be welcomed by all who understand that reexamining the middle class can yield not only better scholarship but firmer grounds for democratic hope. .
Price: $19.79
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Jefferson vs. the Patent Trolls: A Populist Vision of Intellectual Property Rights
Of all the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson had the most substantial direct experience with the issues surrounding intellectual property rights and their impact on creativity, invention, and innovation. In our own digital age, in which IP has again become the object of intense debate, his voice remains one of the most vital in American history on this crucial subject. Jefferson lived in a time of immense change, when inventions and other creative works impacted the world profoundly. In this atmosphere it became clear that the developers of creative works and the users of those works often have competing interests. Jefferson appreciated as well as anyone that the originators of ideas needed legal protection. He also knew that innovation was crucial for a nation's economic prosperity as well as its political health, and that rights should not become barriers. Jefferson was in a unique position to understand the issues of intellectual property rights. His pronouncements on these issues were those not of a scholar but, rather, of a practitioner. As a scientist, author, and inventor, he was a prolific creator. He was also a tireless consumer of others' works. As America's first patent commissioner, he decided which ideas merited protection and effectively created the patent review process.Jeffrey Matsuura profiles Jefferson's diverse and substantial experience with these issues and discusses the lessons Jefferson's efforts offer us today, as we grapple with many of the same challenges of balancing IP rights against an effort to foster creativity and innovation. Without inserting Jefferson anachronistically into the current debate, Matsuura does not shy away from positing where in the spectrum of opinion Jefferson's ideas lie. For lawyers, legal and technology historians, and entrepreneurs, Matsuura offers a fresh, historically informed perspective on a current issue of major importance..
Price: $11.45
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On Populist Reason
Tour de force analysis of the forces that drive populism by the major political theorist>In this highly original work Ernesto Laclau continues the philosophical and political exploration initiated in Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Here he focuses on the construction of popular identities and how 'the people' emerges as a collective actor. Skillfully combining theoretical analysis with a myriad of empirical references from numerous historical and geographical contexts he offers a critical reading of the existing literature on populism, demonstrating its dependency on the theorists of 'mass psychology' such as Taine and Freud. He demonstrates the relation of populism to democracy and to the logic of representation, and differentiates his approach from the work of Zizek, Hardt and Negri and Rancière. This book is essential reading for all those interested in the question of political identities in present-day societies..
Price: $11.96
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George Wallace: American Populist
Alabama Governor George Wallace captured the national spotlight in fiery opposition to Civil Rights. But biographer Stephan Lesher suggests Wallace's more lasting significance is that of working class spokesman against the intrusion of "big" government. "The first serious study of the whole of Mr. Wallace's career."--The New York Times Book Review..
Price: $16.04
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The Populist Persuasion: An American History
"Michael Kazin enables us to begin to understand the way in which populism has changed from a politics of the left to a politics of the right. The important questions raised by the success of the populist right in the United States are illuminated in Kazin's splendid and timely book."--Thomas Bender, The Nation "Kazin shows populism's canny ability to mix homespun rhetoric and political savvy. . . . The book explains something very important in American life with scrupulous fairness and a keen eye for the humanizing detail. It is as good a road map as we have to the politics of the people who work hard and play by the rules."--Christopher Caldwell, The Wall Street Journal "A perceptive and passionately liberal book. . . . Beginning with the antislavery crusade of the 1840's, [Kazin] skillfully surveys more than a century of mass protests, using imagery and symbolism as his guides."--David Oshinsky, The New York Times For this revised edition, Michael Kazin has rewritten the final chapter, bringing his coverage of populism up to the present (including a discussion of the 1996 presidential election) and added a conclusion..
Price: $17.94
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Oregon Politics and Government: Progressives versus Conservative Populists (Politics and Governments of the American States)
The political culture of Oregon has long had a reputation for innovative policy, maverick politicians, and independent political thought, but instead of using the term “progressive” to describe the state’s political leanings, the editors of Oregon Politics and Government believe a more accurate descriptor would be “schizophrenic.” Oregon Politics and Government provides not only an overview of the state’s politics and government; it also explains how the divide between progressives and conservative populists defines Oregon politics today. Early in the state’s history, reformers championed many causes: the initiative and referendum process for setting public policy, the recall of public officials, the direct election of U.S. senators, and women’s suffrage. Since then, the state has asserted control over beaches, imposed strict land-use laws, created an innovative regional government, introduced voting through the mail, allowed for physician-assisted suicide, and experimented with universal healthcare. Despite this list of accomplishments, however, Oregon is divided between two competing visions: one that is tied to progressive politics and another that is committed to conservative populism. While the progressive side supports a strong and active government, the conservative populist side seeks a smaller government, lower taxes, fewer restrictions on private property, and protection for traditional social values. The struggle between these two forces drives Oregon politics and policies today. .
Price: $25.00
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