America in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
(Book on CD)

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Published
Chantilly, VA : Teaching Co., 2015.
Physical Desc
12 CDs : digital, CD audio ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 course guidebook (vi, 192 pages : illustrations ; 19 cm.).
Status
Arroyo Grande Library - Adult Book on CD - Adult Audiovisual
973.8
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Published
Chantilly, VA : Teaching Co., 2015.
Format
Book on CD
Language
English

Notes

General Note
Topic: History. Subtopic: Modern history.
General Note
Compact discs + book.
General Note
Course guidebook includes biographical information, lecture notes and outlines, and reading list.
Participants/Performers
Lectures by: Professor Edward T. O'Donnell, College of the Holy Cross.
Description
From the guidebook. This course examines the half century defined as the Gilded Age (1865-1900) and the Progressive Era (1900-1920), one of the most important periods in American history. The Gilded Age, as the name suggests, was in many ways a golden time. This exciting period saw spectacular advances in industrial output and technological innovation that transformed the United States from a predominantly agricultural nation -- ranking well behind England, Germany, and France in 1865 -- to the world's most formidable industrial power by 1900. Accompanying this transformation was the emergence of industrial titans, such men as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and JP Morgan. Many Americans celebrated them as "self-made men" and "captains of industry" whose genius was guiding the United States to greatness. They also celebrated a series of astonishing achievements, from the completion of the transcontinental railroad (1869) and the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge (1883), to the laying of the Atlantic cable connecting London and New York by telegraph (1866), to the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty (1886). At these celebrations, American orators invoked the optimistic themes of progress, expanion, growth, and success. Our course will explore these and many more trends and events, including the efforts to win the West by subduing the last of the resisting tribes Native Americans, the transformation of the United States from a nation committed to isolationism to one intent on becoming a force in foreign affairs, and the emergence of an American middle class. In many ways, the Gilded Age marked the emergence of modern America. But this transformation in the last third of the 19th century was neither smooth nor peaceful. Thus, this course also addresses the less upbeat aspects of the Gilded Age. Indeed, the name Gilded Age carried a second meaning that suggested a disturbing superficiality to the progress of the era. A gilded piece of jewelry, after all, only looks like solid gold. Beneath the thin gold layer is cold, hard, black steel. In keeping with this useful metaphor, our course will examine what many Americans in the Gilded Age saw when they peered beneath the shine of progress. We will explore the darker consequences of industrialization and laissez-faire government, especially the immense power accrued by big businesses and capitalists -- people dubbed "robber barons" by their critics. Closely related to this trend was the emergence of a new class of super-rich Americans who went to great lengths to exhibit their wealth and mimic the behavior of European aristocrats -- a development that some deemed outrageous and others found alluring. We will also take a close look at the struggles of American workers, the frequent episodes of labor-capital violence (the period 1880-1900 witnessed nearly 37,000 strikes), and workers' efforts to build a labor movement. Because this era was also marked by mass immigration and rapid urbanization, we will take a close look at the challenges both trends posed and the conflicting ways in which Americans responded to them. By 1900, the fear and anxiety produced by these Gilded Age challenges led to growing popular support for economic, social, political reforms. This Progressive Era marked a profound shift in American political culture and social values. Our course will examine how reformers came to reject the ideals of laissez-faire and small government that had dominated since the ideals of the Founding Fathers. Such values, argued Progressives, made sense in the small, agrarian republic of the early 1800s. But in the age of big business, such a policy threatened to destroy American democracy and republican institutions. What was needed, they claimed, was a strong and active government that operated in the anem of the common good. We will examine how these notions led such reformers as Theodore Roosevelt to push for laws that restrained big business and protected American workers a,nd consumers -- often spurred on by muckraking journalists, including Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair. We will also explore parallel reform efforts to restore and strengthen American democracy by reducing corruption and increasing the voice of the average citizen in politics. Our course will likewise a close look at the emergence of the conservation movement, a forerunner to the modern environmental movement. And we will take time to explore the impact of new technologies, including electricity, the automobile, and the phonograph, as well as new forms of music, literature, and art. These two periods of American history are fascinating in their own right, but they also offer many insights into some of the major questions that dominate political debates in the early 21st century. These questions concern, for example, the influence of corporate money in politics, the proper size and role of government, the desirability of mass immigration, the rights of workers to form unions, and the appropriate extent of diplomatic and military engagement with the wider world (pages 1-3).

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