Customer Reviews

American Progressivism: A Reader

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Progressivism is a term that has been drained of a lot of meaning these days, as people use the term in ways that often depart from the classical version, beginning in the latter part of the 19th century and extending into the 20th century. This is an edited work, by Ronald Pestritto and William Atto, with snippets from a variety of Progressives, providing a solid sampling of exemplars of this movement. The editors note the method that they adopted (Page ix): "We have been guided in our selection of texts by a desire to focus largely on the national progressives whose writing and speeches have had an influence in shaping the politics of our own time."

The book is divided into several sections. The first, The Principles of Progressivism. Selections are come from Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, and public administration scholar Frank Goodnow. The second section, Progressive Interpretation of History, features works by Frederick Jackson Turner and Charles Beard. One target of many Progressives was the Constitution, as they contended that it limited the ability of government to address major problems. Thus, questioning the Constitution was one route taken by academics. Beard, for instance, contended that the Constitution was an economic document designed to protect the property of the Founders and their allies. Part III, Social Justice, Social Gospel, and Education. One key character here is Walter Rauschenbusch, who argued that religious values spoke to the need for government to use its power for the good of the people, including limiting the power of property. John Dewey's well known work on education also appears in this segment of the book.

Part IV, Leadership and the American Presidency. What makes this part interesting is the views of Progressives who became Presidents--TR and Wilson. Other sections follow.

All in all, a pretty good selection of articles. Some of the selections are probably too short to provide the reader a good sense of the author's work. But, tough choices have to be made if you're editing a book. Too lengthy a set of items means fewer items that would appear and less of a sampling. In the end, a solid introduction to Progressives.

You've got to wonder how many people would continue to call themselves "Progressives" if they knew what the core beliefs of that movement were REALLY all about.

Pestritto and Atto have cobbled together excerpts from some of the leading political and intellectual lights of the early American Progressive movement into one handy reference. In other words, this is a collection of primary source excerpts -- Progressive leaders in their own written and spoken words. Naturally, our two early progressive presidents, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, figure prominently. In addition, we get material from such leading progressives as Charles Beard, Jane Addams, Walter Rauschenbusch, John Dewey, and Herbert Croly.

As a history professor, I found this book an invaluable resource, chock-full of interesting quotes to share with my students. Many are shocked when they read/hear what the progressive leaders had to say -- even some students who considered themselves 'progressives' were noticably knocked a little off-balance ideologically to find out how much statism, naked power-worship, anti-individualism, contempt for the Constitution and checks & balances, kooky religious ideas, and racism can be found in the thoughts and words of progressive leaders. I appreciate that because I try to raise as many questions in my students' minds as I answer, and to challenge their beliefs (by the way I do the same thing to conservatives when covering other time periods, too.)

The information in this book is a total rebuttal to the standard textbook explanation that the progressives were just a bunch of people who selflessly wanted to help out the poor and disadvantaged. That's an element of progressivism, to be sure, but there's a LOT more to it than that, particularly at the levels of political and intellectual leadership.

This book will give you a much greater understanding of how our system got to be the way it is, why we deviated in the last century so much from the original focus of our country (which was liberty), and how we instead ended up with a government dominated by two parties who always and continuously increase federal power, regardless of pandering rhetoric to the contrary.

Pestritto and Atto do an excellent job of summarizing the fundamentals of the American Progressive movement in this compilation. The selected excerpts from notable progressives of the early 20th century (Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt, Adams, Croly, and others) go a long way to introducing the reader to the roots of progressivism via concrete sources, while supporting the more abstract defintions and explanations provided in the authors' intro. A must read for anyone concerned with modern politics and the development or erosion of liberal democracies everywhere, depending on your belief system.

I bought this book because I wanted to know what PROGRESSIVES say about PROGRESSIVISM. This book achieved exactly that. I was completely satisfied in that respect. On that count alone, the book deserves 5 stars. My biggest fear before reading this book was that it would be "a conservative's take on progressivism." I though it may have snippets of this and that assembled to make progressives look really bad. IT WAS NOT. This book consists of complete speeches, complete chapters from books and other NOT OUT OF CONTEXT sources. All the editors did was write the introduction at the beginning of the book and then a short paragraph at the top of each entry putting it in its historical context. So, the review that claimed this was a biased book OBVIOUSLY did not READ the book.

Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt played very large in this book. Wilson was VERY dry reading. Teddy Roosevelt was very lively reading. There were many others in here, too that ranged from interesting to very dry. One bonus that I did not expect was some insight into the U.S.'s entry into WWI. Very interesting stuff.

I read somewhere in the other reviews here that Beck recommended this book. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm a regular listener, but I don't recall hearing that. Maybe I wasn't listening that day. Regardless, you can listen to Glenn Beck all day long. From that, you can learn what GLENN BECK says about progressives. Admittedly, not a "Fair and Balanced" view of that ideology. So, I wanted to get the rest of the story. This book was it. (BTW, Beck's picture of progressives is more or less accurate. He puts horns and a tail on them-but...his facts are pretty much right on)

If you are interested in learning what progressives say about progressivism-THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!

I had a hard time finding this book. But I finally did, thank goodness. If you believe in our Constitution, and want to gain insight, YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!

I bought this book when I began hearing the liberal left speaking in terms of being "Progressive". I wanted to understand just exactly what is a Progressive democrat since it seemed that the liberals of today were advocating more government control than we have seen in many years. This book is very informative but don't expect an easy read. It is text book material and in many instances I had to cross reference my reading by keeping my computer handy to reference events, persons and policies that the text assumes you should know. It is very accurate and informative if you have the patience to read and investigate. In some ways, I learned more by having to go slow and investigate as I went. I better understand the totalitarian development that has taken the liberal left since Roosevelt's time. Nevertheless, I am sure there are other books which could explain the principles and historical events in more easily understood text.

A very good read on the progressives ideology. Boring to to read but very informative and a must so as to understand what is really going on in politics in our country. It's not the Dems or the Repubs we have to worry about but, the progressive movement and it infiltration into both party systems.

Using writings and speeches by prominent progressives over the last 100 years, the book shows the dangers of this misguided belief system and the unintended consequences that result from putting such utopian ideas into policy. A must read given the current political situation in this Country.

This book is a fantastic starting point to progressivism. By no means is this the be all end all but it does give one something to cut your teeth on. It is very eye opening to what is taught as American in schools and universities. Be prepared this book is not for the faint of heart and should be studied not simply read. I read it twice and took notes both times. Any one who is in college in a history class (progressive era) or a political science class would do well to add this to your reading list.

I am still reading, but this is an excellent book for those interested in the thinking of Progressives in United States politics. I would recommend this book for high school students before they go to college.