Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919 [Paperback]

Nell Irvin Painter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 1989

Winner of the Letitia Brown Memorial Publication Prize.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"Fear of working-class violence," the author comments in the preface, "explains much of what has been called progressive reform." In this excellent illustrated survey of American labor radicalism and political reaction from the end of Reconstruction to the end of World War I, Painter concentrates largely on the struggle between "partisans of democracy" and "protectors of hierarchy" during a 42-year period when the country was evolving from an agrarian to an urban industrial society. Her major theme is the public's identification of organized labor with incendiary radicalism. She notes that the years of greatest unrest inspired ever more violent "red scares" during which the restoration of law and order meant using whoever could be defined as "reds" as the scapegoats. The author is a history professor at the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

This book offers general readers and students a fresh introduction to the United States during the Gilded Age and the progressive era. Painter has relied on the latest biographies and monographs to write her descriptive synthesis. She gives attention to blacks, women, and immigrants as well as the industrial and political elite, combining social, economic, and political history. The author concludes that the strong pressures of the agricultural and industrial laborers forced the passage of progressive reforms in the early 20th century. Painter's narrative joins other worthwhile surveys of the era, e.g., S.D. Cashman's America in the Gilded Age ( LJ 12/15/83) and Ray Ginger's standard treatment Age of Excess (1975, rev. ed.). Joseph G. Dawson III, History Dept., Texas A&M Univ., College Station
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (April 17, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393305880
• ISBN-13: 978-0393305883
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #163,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nell Irvin Painter is the award-winning author of many books, including Sojourner Truth, Southern History Across the Color Line, Creating Black Americans, The History of White People, and Standing at Armageddon. She is currently the Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, at Princeton University and lives in Newark, New Jersey.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars America's Greatest Hits, 1877-1919, April 2, 2000

By 

William L. Grabow - See all my reviews

This review is from: Standing at Armageddon: The United States, 1877-1919 (Paperback)

Standing at Armageddon, by Nell Irvin Painter, covers American history from Reconstruction to the end of World War I, outlining American progress many fronts. At different times, it works as pieces of social, political, and economic history. Painter's attention to detail informs the reader with razor-sharp accuracy, but also at times provides too much information, revealing Painter's personal biases. In outlining this period of American history, Painter asserts that America was performing a tight-rope walk on the brink of destruction. America's omnipresent danger of collapse is portrayed through looks at social, economic, and political history, but the three are sometimes interconnected and some are presented more than others. In the mix, reform and inequality are paramount. Painter belabours the plight of women and blacks especially, devoting a chapter to each. Using many resources, Painter explores the aspects of social reform, including comprehensive reports of the working class, and the struggle for reform, this book is easily called social history, perhaps at the expense of political and economic history. Painter discusses the plight of women with especial detail, showing all sides of suffrage and oppression. Her female subjects range from Jane Addams to Emma Goldman, displaying convictions, goals, and accomplishments of each. Her thoughtfulness in this type of integration shows she has a flair for demonstrating societal matters. As a work of political history, SAA is fine. Important acts of legislation and politicians are not left out of the mix, and are integrated well with social aspects. With regard to legislation, no important bill is left out. The book nicely traces the rise and fall of the Civil Rights Act of 1975 and then follows up, discussing the "separate but equal" and Jim Crow laws that followed. Seamlessly, Painter follows up with the effects of said laws on society, furthering this book as a piece of social history. Economic history is present in this book, but is the servant of social and political history. For example, the bimetallism debates of the late 19th-century are explained with regards to society, such as farmers and rural citizens, and politics, such as the international effects of bimetallism, but the book does not speculate on bimetallism itself. The book also discusses economic factions such as the Greenbackers, but does so with regard to the groups themselves, instead of their economic principles. This book is not a work of economic history, but it does effectively integrate it with other subject matters. SAA covered a great many different topics within its time period, but concentrated most heavily on social history. Political history is also used, discussed, and mentioned. However, the economic history as a servant to the other two lessens its value as an independent topic, though it is nonetheless worthwhile. Though Painter tries mightily to cram a lot between the covers of this book, she doesn't spend as much time on some topics as one might expect. For example World War I is crammed into about 25 pages, whereas the 1890's depression, women's suffrage, and racial inequality are all discussed in more detail. This can be construed as a shortcoming, but considering the number of other books on World War I, and the relative scarcity of books combining information on suffrage, racial tension, and the 1890's depression, it is understandable. It is important that Painter's book is not a comprehensive report of 1877-1919, rather, a selection of various topics from that period. All subjects can be discussed in either more or less detail, and with only a few discrepancies, Painter strikes a nice balance. While reform is an omnipresent theme, especially in the era of SAR, Painter sometimes leaves gaps. Her treatment of the conservation movements of the early 20th century are interesting, but she leaves out looming subjects, including the Hetch-Hetchy debate. She also discusses strikes, but never puts them into perspective with eachother. That weakness is also evident in her handling of the topic of the International Workers of the World - it is often mentioned but little-discussed. However, the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union is revealed in great detail. Painter's feminine bias towards history, revealed in the way she attaches a feminine viewpoint to everything, is usually interesting, but rarely in perspective with larger issues. Perhaps the best thing about SAA is topic selection. While at certain moments they seem illogical and myopic (25 pages for WWI! ), they ultimately provide a clear view of SAA's time period and act as excellent intellectual springboards, informing you of a topic, telling you important details and piquing your curiosity should you choose to pursue a subject further. On any topic, SAA provides a fair idea of whatever the subject is, inasmuch as 30 or so pages will allow. Aside from that, there are no great shortcomings to SAR. As a whole, SAA is pretty optimistic. No matter what topic, one gets a sense of hope. Painter allows for a subjective look at history, although emphasizing the good over the bad. For instance, even the coverage of the depression of the 1890's quickly gives way to the hope and good fortune of "Coxey's Army," and sums up with the fact that Jacob Coxey died that the age of ninety-seven, completely vindicated. SAA is not a tragedy. It describes the hard times, scandals, and evils that accompanied this period, but never despairs for healthy resolution. SAA hopes for the best, and describes it. All in all, Standing at Armageddon is an impressive work. Tackling topics ranging from Bolshevism to the Spanish-American War is no small feat, and Painter succeeds. Aside from a few grievances (unequal coverage of topics, etc.,) SAA offers a sweeping view of 1877-1919 that is practically comprehensive. More information would make the book bulky and unwieldy, and less would be inadequate. Nell Irvin Painter should congratulate herself on writing a book deftly covering so much between covers that are so close together. In the end, Standing at Armageddon walks the same tight-rope that America did at the turn of the 20th century and rarely

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars balanced, evocative history of a time of great upheaval, October 7, 2010

By 

Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (Paperback)

If you think that the present era is bad, all you need to do is read about the Reconstruction to see America at its absolute worst. This book covers the close of Reconstruction, into what has long been portrayed as an era of explosive "progressivism", but it is a kind of people's history as well as covering the leaders. The result is a brilliant and dense tableau by a first rate historian and writer.

At the beginning of the era, the government has been thoroughly corrupted by the "robber barons", who have essentially turned the Republicans into defenders of capital over labor: they essentially made it illegal, in some cases even treasonous, to strike or even speak out, followed by executions on trumped up charges after violent confrontations. To the 1880s, as the industrial revolution was gaining momentum and resulting in vast fortunes and power, the conditions of work were often of an unimaginable brutality: 7-day work weeks, child labor, virtual imprisonment of laborers in shabby industrial complexes at dirt-low pay, etc. Unions were not recognized as legitimate representatives of labor and hence not allowed to negotiate collectively, workers could not feed their families, and education was largely unavailable. With all three branches of the government completely in the pocket of the "capitalists", the working class felt as if it was disenfranchised and without any means of effecting change. Then there were terrible economic downturns that thrown millions into the streets without any government social safety net.

The result was a build-up of anger that reached revolutionary proportions, ready to burst forth in the most violent confrontations - industrial, racially motivated, etc. - that America had seen since the Civil War. While there were many anarchists (later tainted by terrorism association) and socialists, many of their demands were pragmatic, including an 8-hour work day, the end of child labor, the legalization of union representation, and higher pay. The author tells all of the principal stories associated with these incidents, such as the Haymarket bombing or the Railroad Strike of 1877.

Add to this the emergence of a cadre of reformers - suffragettes, muckraking journalists, union and social activists engaging in fundamental experiments, even some politicians - and the mix became extremely volatile. What is so interesting about this book is the modest assessment of the end results that the author portrays. In other words, beyond some pretty basic accomplishments, the progressive era's political momentum in her view was dissipated first by the Great War and then by the prosperity that followed until the Great Depression. This was a great surprise to me, though it was apparently enough to ward off violent revolution as the middle class expanded to enjoy the fruits of the American dream.

The book is written in a beautifully fluid and elegant style, honing in on details and mini-biographies. At times, it is a bit pedantic at an undergraduate level (I did not need to be informed, for example, that the Ottomans were Turks!), but this is a minor criticism. This is a splendid introduction with a strong point of view and many delightful surprises. Personally, I was fascinated by Frances Willard, who gave the name to a nearby school in my conservative home town: a suffragette and advocate of prohibition (they were intimately linked), she was also a lover of women at a time when such things were never discussed and even lacked an adequate vocabulary to describe it.

Warmly recommended, This is a masterpiece.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars absolutely excellent, January 30, 2010

By 

Melanie Winters "Melanie" (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (Paperback)

I am an historian of modern US history, and I find this one of the best history books I have ever read. It makes so many things that even I did not completely understand extremely readable and understandable, and is not afraid to get into banking history and taxation history and political history and military history. The focus, of course, is working people (black and white, Northern and Southern).

Really really amazing.