|
|
|
Book Reviews
Referencing the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
| BUENKER, JOHN D. and JOSEPH BUENKER, eds. Encyclopedia of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, 2005. xxxii + 1256 pp. in three volumes. List of contributors, acknowledgments, preface, introduction, thematic essays, A-Z entries, illustrations, sidebars, documents, chronology, bibliography, general index, bibliographical index. $299.00 (cloth), ISBN 0-7656-8051-3.
|
|
The reference shelves of public and research libraries have been graced in recent years by the addition of many new encyclopedias of specific periods, wars, ethnic and racial groups, biographies, and much else. Until now we have not had a comprehensive work of this kind devoted to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. These volumes fill the gap well. The editors are the historian John D. Buenker, author and editor of many works on progressivism, ethnicity, urbanism, Wisconsin history, and other subjects; holder of prestigious fellowships; and now emeritus after a distinguished career at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside; and his son Joseph Buenker, graduate of the University of Illinois library school and a librarian at Arizona State University (West). This is the largest and latest of the several reference works that Professor Buenker has edited. It pulls together the efforts of over 200 scholars to produce 900 thematic essays and alphabetical entries. It is a worthy addition to his enviable output. Each editor also wrote many of the fascinating sidebars scattered throughout the volumes. |
1
|
|
The chronological brackets are 1877 and 1920, although a few entries precede and follow those dates. The three volumes comprise 1,256 double-column pages of text in 8-inch × 10 1/2-inch format. The typeface is easily readable and the frequent illustrations are to the point. A comprehensive table of contents opens volume I, and volume III closes with a chronology and general bibliography, as well as a general index and a biographical index. The two indexes also conclude volumes I and II; one wonders if the space might have been better used for more, or longer, content entries. Volume I is a bit front-loaded in that it covers the alphabet only from A through D, while volume II covers F through R, and III includes S through Z plus a selection of primary-source documents and the general bibliography. The sidebars are intended "to add an element of human interest or popular culture," and they do, providing piquant detail on subjects like toys (tinkertoys, Lincoln logs, erector sets), the early days of Coca-Cola, how the Teddy Bear started, and much else. |
2
|
|
In the preface and introduction, the senior editor defines "the organizing theme" of the 1877-1920 period as "the emergence of the United States as a modern, urban, industrial, multiethnic world power," and explains what he means by each of those five terms (xxxi [his italics]; also 1-5). He considers the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era to be continuous, not two separate periods, certainly not a benighted late nineteenth century followed by a bright and abruptly reformist early twentieth. To cope with all the changes they confronted, Americans of those days "hit upon a three-stage strategy": to organize with others of like ethnicity, occupation, class, etc.; then to "intervene...in the process through which the fruits of the new socioeconomic order were distributed"; and finally "to call upon government—at all levels—to intervene in that process on behalf of all those who felt aggrieved or injured" (5). Prior to the 1893-97 depression, patricians, the urban-industrial working class, and agrarians each tried to cope, but often worked "at cross-purposes" for various reasons. The "Crisis of the 1890s" pulled them together, often in the private sector and increasingly in the public, whether local, state, or federal. These many efforts met with considerable success but World War I "and its aftermath" brought "disintegration and decline," and withal, despite all the changes between 1877 and 1920, a "mixed legacy" (13). |
. . . |
There are about 2166 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|
