Struggles for Justice: Social Responsibility and the Liberal State

by Alan Dawley

Overview

In this new interpretation of the making of modern America, prize-winning historian Alan Dawley traces the group struggles involved in the nation’s rise to power. Probing the dynamics of social change, he explores tensions between industrial workers and corporate capitalists, Victorian moralists and New Women, native Protestants and Catholic immigrants. Thoughtful analysis and sparkling narrative combine to make this book a major challenge to earlier interpretations of the period.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674845817
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/15/1993
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	558
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Alan Dawley was Professor of History, The College of New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: The Problem: State and Society, 1890s-1912

Chapter 1. Gilded Age Liberty

Chapter 2. New Workers, New Women

Chapter 3. The Social Question

Part II: Confronting the Issues, 1913-1924

Chapter 4. Progressive Statecraft

Chapter 5. The Dynamics of Total War

Chapter 6. Response to Revolution

Chapter 7. Restoration by Repression

Part III: The Resolution, 1925-1938

Chapter 8. The New Era of Corporate Capitalism

Chapter 9. Managing the Depression: Hoover and Roosevelt

Chapter 10. Rendezvous with Destiny

Conclusion

Abbreviations

Selected Bibliography

Notes

Index

What People are Saying About This

Linda Gordon

Of the varieties of histories of the welfare state, this is now, by far, the best. It offers both a survey and a powerful, original interpretation. It is the first general book to take the question of gender seriously.
— Linda Gordon, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Editorial Reviews

A superb book, much the best general account of twentieth-century American history to have been published in many years. It seems to be a model of the new approaches to American history, especially for the ways in which it combines social and political history. Dawley does more to make sense of the general theme of social justice, the defining theme of the past couple of generations, than anyone else. The book is superbly well written and effectively organized. It should become the leading college text in its subject, and I hope that it will also find a large general audience, for it will be of real interest to the learned public.

Stanley N. Katz

Historians have been calling for years for syntheses of the new scholarship of the last generation. Dawley has now provided one… He dusts democracy off and places it back where it belongs, at the center of the story… His argument helps restore balance to our conception of ‘progressivism’ and to our understanding of the larger liberal world of which, he reminds us, democratic impulses were once (and we must hope remain) a vital part.

Times Literary Supplement - Alan Brinkley

Of the varieties of histories of the welfare state, this is now, by far, the best. It offers both a survey and a powerful, original interpretation. It is the first general book to take the question of gender seriously.

Linda Gordon

A superb book, much the best general account of 20th century American history to have been published in many years. It seems to be a model of the new approaches to American history, especially for the ways in which it combines social and political history. Dawley does more to make sense of the general theme of social justice, the defining theme of the past couple of generations, than anyone else. The book is superbly well written and effectively organized. It should become the leading college text in its subject, and I hope that it will also find a large general audience, for it will be of real interest to the learned public.

American Council of Learned Societies - Stanley N. Katz

Historians have been calling for years for syntheses of the new scholarship of the last generation. Dawley has now provided one...He dusts democracy off and places it back where it belongs, at the center of the story...His argument helps restore balance to our conception of "progressivism" and to our understanding of the larger liberal world of which, he reminds us, democratic impulses were once (and we must hope remain) a vital part.
— Alan Brinkley

Times Literary Supplement

A superb book, much the best general account of 20th century American history to have been published in many years. It seems to be a model of the new approaches to American history, especially for the ways in which it combines social and political history. Dawley does more to make sense of the general theme of social justice, the defining theme of the past couple of generations, than anyone else. The book is superbly well written and effectively organized. It should become the leading college text in its subject, and I hope that it will also find a large general audience, for it will be of real interest to the learned public.
— Stanley N. Katz

American Council of Learned Societies

Historian Dawley analyzes American history from the 1890s to the 1930s, focusing on the imbalance between a bustling society and the existing liberal state. The dynamics of social change and overseas expansion are shown to have created contradictions that could not be contained within the political framework handed down from the 19th century. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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