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A Very Different Age: Americans of the Progressive Era

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Steven Diner's A Very Different Age is a social history of the common man during the "Progressive" years in American history (circa 1890's through 1910's). Rather than focus on specific events or people, the book investigates society as a whole. In effect Diner is saying that while individuals make the history books, the group is what makes history happen.

Diner organizes the book in a mostly chronological manner. He starts with the crises of the 1890's in his prologue and ends his final chapter dealing with World War One in the late 1910's. Every time period in between deals with a different set of people, but follows in a roughly chronological fashion.

If Diner is arguing that the people are the protagonists of history, then what they are acting for seems to be a better station in life. Business owners struggle against managers at the turn of the century in order to establish a more efficient factory, while managers strike back in order to preserve their well-being and way of life. Workers square off against their managers and business owners in order to establish safer working conditions and fair pay, while the owners attempt to suppress such uprisings to keep their profit margins high. Immigrants strive to raise their status by scooping up whatever work they can find (mostly low paying factory jobs) so that they can achieve a better life either in America or in their home country, while native-born Americans and previous generations of immigrants ostracize them as being a different and therefore inferior race. Meanwhile American farmers become sucked into the capitalist system, unable to remain autonomous sustenance farmers any more they must submit to the whim of the supply and demand forces of capitalism at the same time subjecting themselves to the invisible man who established their commodities' prices. African Americans struggle for freedoms given to seemingly everyone else, the white collar middle class emerges as a powerhouse in the American economy, professionalization occurs in such fields as medicine and law requiring doctors and lawyers to be adequately educated and organized, politicians begin catering to the public's demands for a more active government, and eventually the era comes to a close soon after the first World War.

Diner presents compelling cases for everyone's contributions during the progressive era. The book reads more like a narrative than a presentation of facts and events. It is this narrative that makes Diner's argument so strong because it makes the book feel more human. People tell stories in a different way than a textbook does. If Diner is arguing that the masses are the most important part of this period, then the style of the book allows for the reader to assume the "people" are speaking directly to them.

The social history angle also provides a refreshing change of pace from "normal" history books. While stories of strong individuals or decisive events throughout history can be inspiring to readers, it is easier to relate to stories about common people. The reader can identify with Joe Smith and his fight for a better life in the factory than they can with Teddy Roosevelt and his globe-trotting manly-man adventures.

Overall Diner is effective as an author with A Very Different Age. His organization, research, and presentation allow accessability to anyone interested in studying the time period. Diner also provides a comprehensive index (not necessarily a given as one might expect) for readers or researchers to easily find specific topics and references in the book.

The only place the book stumbles is in the bibliography. Rather than a typical bibliography that catalogues the different books, articles, essays, and such that the author used to create the work, Diner attempts a "Bibliographical Essay". In said essay Diner attaches short sentences to citations and connects everything together in mostly incoherent paragraphs. The whole process seems un-necessary and frustrating to read. It could be assumed that Diner is trying to retain his narrative presence from the body of the book, but the effort is lost. Set between traditional (and academically formatted) end notes and index sections, this narrative bibliographical essay just seems out of place.

However, the average reader -and even the casual academic reader- would not be hindered by the previously mentioned flaw. Therefore, Diner provides an excellent piece of work worthy of reading and further study by any person interested in either the specific time period or a story about the strength of human will and the desire for fair treatment.

This book offers personal stories of those involved in the changing times of the Progressive Era. Diner drives home the point of the competition between Americans at this time. The competition for jobs, leisure time, consumer goods, etc. Someone who already is familiar with the Progressive Era would be bored, but for those just starting it is a good book.

This is a relatively short but cohesive social history of the progressive era. Diner's primary aim is to decipt of the attempts of many sectors of American to adapt the demands of industrial capitalism. This book is written well and a nice complement to other histories oriented towards politics and legislation. Diner also does well to review the efforts of groups not typically covered in conventional histories of the period, such as managers and professionals. An insightful and useful book.