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American Progressivism: A Reader |  | Creators: Ronald J. Pestritto, William J. Atto
Brand: AMZ - Omaha
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  27 reviews
Media: Paperback
Pages: 340
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.1
MPN: 9780739123041
ISBN: 0739123041
Dewey Decimal Number: 324.27327
EAN: 9780739123041
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Product Description
This collection of writings by prominent politicians, authors, and activistsof the Progressive Era explores Progressivism s role in the developmentof American political thought. Pestritto and Atto provide insight intoeach figure s influence on Progressive Era American politics byintroducing each entry with the context within which the author of agiven selection is writing. Students of American political thought,American politics, American history, the presidency, Congress, andpolitical parties will find this reader to be a valuable source forinsight into Progressivism. Author: Ronald J. Pestritto and William J. Atto Format: 340 pages, paperback Publisher: Lexington Books ISBN: 9780739123041
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
 In Their Own Words October 6, 2009
Prof. CJ (North FL, USA)
73 out of 76 found this review helpful
You've got to wonder how many people would continue to call themselves "Progressives" if they knew what the core beliefs of that movement were REALLY all about.
Pestritto and Atto have cobbled together excerpts from some of the leading political and intellectual lights of the early American Progressive movement into one handy reference. In other words, this is a collection of primary source excerpts -- Progressive leaders in their own written and spoken words. Naturally, our two early progressive presidents, Woodrow Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt, figure prominently. In addition, we get material from such leading progressives as Charles Beard, Jane Addams, Walter Rauschenbusch, John Dewey, and Herbert Croly.
As a history professor, I found this book an invaluable resource, chock-full of interesting quotes to share with my students. Many are shocked when they read/hear what the progressive leaders had to say -- even some students who considered themselves 'progressives' were noticably knocked a little off-balance ideologically to find out how much statism, naked power-worship, anti-individualism, contempt for the Constitution and checks & balances, kooky religious ideas, and racism can be found in the thoughts and words of progressive leaders. I appreciate that because I try to raise as many questions in my students' minds as I answer, and to challenge their beliefs (by the way I do the same thing to conservatives when covering other time periods, too.)
The information in this book is a total rebuttal to the standard textbook explanation that the progressives were just a bunch of people who selflessly wanted to help out the poor and disadvantaged. That's an element of progressivism, to be sure, but there's a LOT more to it than that, particularly at the levels of political and intellectual leadership.
This book will give you a much greater understanding of how our system got to be the way it is, why we deviated in the last century so much from the original focus of our country (which was liberty), and how we instead ended up with a government dominated by two parties who always and continuously increase federal power, regardless of pandering rhetoric to the contrary.
Great intro to a topic of continuing, and immense, importance April 29, 2009
Thomas Gorski (Chicago)
57 out of 62 found this review helpful
Pestritto and Atto do an excellent job of summarizing the fundamentals of the American Progressive movement in this compilation. The selected excerpts from notable progressives of the early 20th century (Woodrow Wilson, Roosevelt, Adams, Croly, and others) go a long way to introducing the reader to the roots of progressivism via concrete sources, while supporting the more abstract defintions and explanations provided in the authors' intro. A must read for anyone concerned with modern politics and the development or erosion of liberal democracies everywhere, depending on your belief system.
EXACTLY what I wanted!!! March 1, 2010
Sareinhart
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
I bought this book because I wanted to know what PROGRESSIVES say about PROGRESSIVISM. This book achieved exactly that. I was completely satisfied in that respect. On that count alone, the book deserves 5 stars. My biggest fear before reading this book was that it would be "a conservative's take on progressivism." I though it may have snippets of this and that assembled to make progressives look really bad. IT WAS NOT. This book consists of complete speeches, complete chapters from books and other NOT OUT OF CONTEXT sources. All the editors did was write the introduction at the beginning of the book and then a short paragraph at the top of each entry putting it in its historical context. So, the review that claimed this was a biased book OBVIOUSLY did not READ the book.
Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt played very large in this book. Wilson was VERY dry reading. Teddy Roosevelt was very lively reading. There were many others in here, too that ranged from interesting to very dry. One bonus that I did not expect was some insight into the U.S.'s entry into WWI. Very interesting stuff.
I read somewhere in the other reviews here that Beck recommended this book. I don't know if that's true or not. I'm a regular listener, but I don't recall hearing that. Maybe I wasn't listening that day. Regardless, you can listen to Glenn Beck all day long. From that, you can learn what GLENN BECK says about progressives. Admittedly, not a "Fair and Balanced" view of that ideology. So, I wanted to get the rest of the story. This book was it. (BTW, Beck's picture of progressives is more or less accurate. He puts horns and a tail on them-but...his facts are pretty much right on)
If you are interested in learning what progressives say about progressivism-THIS IS THE BOOK FOR YOU!
Excellent book April 14, 2009
Carole G. Chalcraft (GA, USA)
71 out of 89 found this review helpful
I had a hard time finding this book. But I finally did, thank goodness. If you believe in our Constitution, and want to gain insight, YOU NEED TO READ THIS BOOK!
a must to understanding the Progressives objectives February 1, 2010
Boyd Lieberman (Shreveport, LA)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
A very good read on the progressives ideology. Boring to to read but very informative and a must so as to understand what is really going on in politics in our country. It's not the Dems or the Repubs we have to worry about but, the progressive movement and it infiltration into both party systems.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 27
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