American Politics in the Gilded Age: 1868 - 1900

By Robert W. Cherny

Book Overview

Often Gilded-Age politics has been described as devoid of content or accomplishment, a mere spectacle to divert voters from thinking about the real issues of the day. But by focusing too closely on dramatic scandals and on the foibles of prominent politicians, many historians have tended to obscure other aspects of late nineteenth-century politics that proved to be of great and long-term significance. With the latest scholarship in mind, Professor Cherny provides a deft and highly readable analysis that is certain to help readers better understand the characteristics and important products of Gilded-Age politics. Topics covered include: voting behavior; the relation between the popular will and the formation of public policy; the cause and effect of the deadlock in national politics that lasted from the mid-1870s to the 1890s; the sources of political innovation at state and local levels; and the notable changes wrought during the 1890s that ushered in important new forms of American politics.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0882959336
• ISBN13: 9780882959337
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Grade Range: Grades 11 to 12

Customer Reviews

An often overlooked and neglected period of time in the study of American history

American Politics In The Gilded Age is a great addition to The American History Series published by Harlan Davidson. This book is to be used mainly as a companion or supplement to a main textbook, but it is good to read separately on its own. The book discusses politics in the late nineteenth century. Some of the topics covered by author Robert Cherny are the agrarian revolt including farmers' parties, the issue of the gold standard, imperialism under President McKinley, the emergence of Populism and third parties such as the Greenback Party, civil service reform, the similarity of and lack of dominance of neither the Democratic nor the Republican party during this time period, the economic depression of the 1890s, the administrations of the so-called "weak" presidents of the late nineteenth century, and much more. This is an interesting period of time in American history. A lot was going on. Unfortunately, a lot of people view this as a very boring period of time to study. To me, it's quite the contrary. This book enables you to learn about the politics of such presidents as Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and McKinley. I recommend this book highly. If you never were taught much about this time period when you were in school or if your high school history teacher completely skipped over it like mine did (he jumped from 1877 to 1901 and said the reason for skipping over 25 years was because there wasn't much going on during that time period), then you should make up for lost time, literally.

Excellent overview of the politics of the era.

Cherny does an excellent job of discussing politics around the turn of the century. He discusses the political deadlock between both powers when they were almost so equally matched neither could get any agenda passed. Cherny does an excellent job of discussing the many organizations that farmers organized to put pressure on politicians to better their situations. One of the main organizations he discusses is the Populists who made some gains in the Democratic party but realistically failed to make any significant changes. The book is short and very easy to read and understand.