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Echoes of November: The life and times of Senator R.F. Pettigrew of South Dakota

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In the history of South Dakota, Pettigrew was one of its greatest sons. He came of age in the aftermath of the Civil War. In his lifetime, the US filled the frontier and became the world's greatest industrial power. He played his part in this rise. Here Fanebust shows us a richly detailed and well researched biography of Pettigrew's trajectory.

The Gilded Age comes alive in these pages, as Fanebust describes how Pettigrew rose to be the boss of the South Dakota Republicans, and the internecine jockeying for power within that group and at the national party level. The Free Silver movement and its intermeshing with the Populists throughout the Prairie states is given full exposition. Then, later, we see Pettigrew's passionate and astute support of the Spanish-American War.

Strange though it may now seem to some of us, Pettigrew is shown as a prominent Republican with a strong strain of socialism; often railing against banks and plutocracy. It reflects the resentment often felt by farmers against the banks and the railroads. Pettigrew was also a promiment religious sceptic; certainly not a Christian. Another contrast with nowadays, where often the Republican party has become riddled with evangilical Christians.