American Reformers, 1815-1860, Revised Edition (Paperback)

by Ronald G. Walters (Author) "The report on a Kentucky girl in 1801 was dire: "She was struck down fell stiff her hand and arm also became as cold as..." (more)
Key Phrases: antebellum crusaders, most antebellum reformers, antebellum crusades, New York, New England, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A gracefully written interpretative work [which] fills an important space in the general history of American reform." -- David E. Stannard, Yale University

"A most impressive work. Walters has clearly succeeded better than anyone else in explaining the complex subject of pre-Civil War reform movements."--James B. Stewart, Macalester College

"The most impressive feature of this fine book is the author's ability to synthesize a large, rich, and diverse literature about antebellum reform movements and to present a clear, readable, and persuasive account of their important impact on American society."--James M. McPherson, Princeton University

"Although lucid and witty, the author does not oversimplify the tangled history of reforms...Walters has met the task brilliantly, without a wasted word."--Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Case Western Reserve University
-- Review

Review

"A most impressive work. Walters has clearly succeeded better than anyone else in explaining the complex subject of pre-Civil War reform movements."--James B. Stewart, Macalester College"The most impressive feature of this fine book is the author's ability to synthesize a large, rich, and diverse literature about antebellum reform movements and to present a clear, readable, and persuasive account of their important impact on American society."--James M. McPherson, Princeton University"Although lucid and witty, the author does not oversimplify the tangled history of reforms...Walters has met the task brilliantly, without a wasted word."--Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Case Western Reserve University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hill and Wang; Revised edition (January 31, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809015889
• ISBN-13: 978-0809015887
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #435,992 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good History, December 18, 2000

By	"roger_o" (Mercer, WI United States) - See all my reviews

With American Reformers, Walters has composed a fine synthesis of secondary literature on the varied antebellum reform movements. In doing so, he argues that the reform impulse emerges out of evangelical Protestantism but by the Civil War takes a more secular turn more involved in legislating social controls than converting the hearts of individuals. As he develops this argument he addresses the different forms that this reform impulse took and organizes the book thematically. He discusses in successive chapters utopian movements and secular communitarians, abolition, the women's movement and the peace movement, temperance, health reform and spiritualism, working man's reform, and institutional reform, into which he groups mental hospitals, prisons and schools.

Walters demonstrates the secularization of reform in the realm of communitarian societies. Thus, the early nineteenth century utopian settlements that often emerged out of pietistic impulses gave way to more secular experiments in social engineering such as Owenism, or as in the case of Oneida, how a once religious community endured only as a commercial venture. Similarly he shows institutions such as asylums wove their religious inspiration with the science of the times but like prisons and almshouses became holding pens for outcasts rather than places for healing and reform.

Walters also situates the emergence of reform in the particular circumstances of antebellum America. He argues that the emergence of the middle class created made it possible for people to devote time to reform, and that technological advances in printing made it possible for people to actually make a living as an "agitator." He also argues that reform helped shape the identity of the emerging middle class. This point come through particularly clearly in his chapter on working man's reform.

Walters' synthesis suffers from its grand scope and short length. In it he sacrifices a certain amount of detail and analysis for space and clarity. The section on utopian movements, for example, traces the personalities of the major reformers and a brief outline of the community that followed without in-depth analysis. Throughout the book quotations from primary sources would have been helpful in giving a feel for the particular movement under discussion. The lack of primary source material allows Walters to sacrifice documentation, and the reader sometimes wishes for some assistance in discerning the origin or fuller development of a particular point. To his credit, Walters provides a good bibliographical essay at the end, but the lack of documentation sometimes proves frustrating and thus interrupts the otherwise smooth flow in the text. Nonetheless, American Reformers is a very readable and useful synthesis of the secondary sources on antebellum reform. As such, it is a helpful and welcome addition to the field.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Reformers" gives a great overview of the times, June 3, 2008

By	Kristi L. Waterworth - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some of the other reviewers have been awfully hard on Ron Walters for "skimming over" the info in this book. We're talking about a book that covers 45 years and hundreds or thousands of people (if you count all the utopians) in a little over 200 pages. I really liked this book as an introduction to the period and the people. It has led to my reading additional books about things like Brook Farm and the relationships between antebellum feminists and abolitionists. If you want fine detail and scrutany, look for something that is less scattershot, maybe "American Reformers: July 16, 1854."

In my mind, this is an introductory text, albeit a fine one. Walters is very accessable, he tries to include necessary historical perspective and whatever cultural information he deems to be valuable to the story he's telling in each chapter. And while each chapter is a story of a different movement or people, he also demonstrates those things these groups have in common. I won't spoil it for you, but at the least of it, they were all idealists who thought to affect the world around them.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too Superficial a Study, January 29, 2004

By A Customer

While American Reformers gives a fair overview of significant individuals and their movements in U.S. history, the book glosses over much material. Walters has accumulated much data, but it comes across as if he's heading a p.r. campaign for reformers instead of digging deep into his area. Much of Walter's writing is very light here and elsewhere (especially in his monthly columns he writes under the name of "Guido Veloce" for the Johns Hopkins Magazine) and at times it appears frivilous.