The Search for Order: 1877-1920

Robert H. Wiebe is the professor of history at Northwestern University, and is the author of The Segmented Society and Self Rule: A Cultural History of American Democracy, and The Search for Order, 1877-1920, the focus of this short post.

This is a book assigned to me in my graduate class and I am compelled to discuss it. Think of the time period, post Reconstruction, Gilded Age, Progressivism, Industrialization, population drift, New Immigrants, and Imperialism. America was changing and began to find itself, you could say. New problems to be dealt with as urbanization and industrialization caused a shock wave of response to social issues such as child labor and worker safety. Muckrakers would also expose “How the other Half Lives” and the “Progress and Poverty” of their time. The transforming of America was seen in science and technology, the Bessemer process initiated what the perfection of Iron and evolution of steel that allowed Andrew Carnegie to create cheaper steel and start a revolution in industry: Skyscrapers and railroads. Cities grew and in all directions. Though, as was usually the case, not an American invention, but something that an American with vision and who was willing to take a gamble, would perfect and profit from.

Carnegie wrote “The Gospel of Wealth” and articulated his view that the rich are merely “trustees” of their wealth and should give back to society. His famous quote said it all: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” He literally died broke when you compare the wealth he had from start to finish. Robber Baron or Captain of Industry whose success helped the masses far more than it hurt them? You decide.

Weibe begins his narrative in 1877 when we find America caught up in a great depression and the national strike in 1877. By the 1880s the Gilded Age is here with its progress and wealth as farms, banks, businesses and railroads expanded and most prospered. This leads to his thesis that all this change cased a drastic shift as the small autonomic communities in transition struggled with a so-called “search for order.” This was a transition between the Old world and the New. Weibe argues that those small “island communities” were essentially left behind.

Weibe’s book is a good read and a very useful resource that I highly recommend even though I don’t agree with everything and feel he lauds to a degree the disappearance of the “island communities,” where I on the other hand do not. The struggle for order was still localized on a small community level and on a bigger urban level as well What evolved was a divide between them in some respects. Anyway, a good read and worth the time and effort.

About admin

Travel and History blogger Twitter @JoeDuck
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to The Search for Order: 1877-1920

  1. Michael Schack says:

    I am attracted to books that are titled with a date. It offers a structure the author can focus on. And usually the subtirle cues one to the theme that the author directs his/her research to As in 1491 New Revelation of the Americas before Columbus, 1919 Savage peace, 1959 the year that changed everything (this is a bit broad) 1776 – no subtitle, or 1960 Civil wars – America divided. This title that spans almost 50 years of social, political, economic upheaval the Title: The Search for order 1877 – 1920 seems perfect. I am curios about which area is the predominate focus? From the above books 1919 savage peace was very informative and insightful of what historical events occurred the year following the end of World War 1,
    Just thinking about the book In Search for Order, I wondered about speed as a topic. Today we expect information to be instant, lights to turn on computers to fly, flight 500 miles per hour. That period also focused on speed. Of rails, building of cities, movement of products, cars, and planes, With underwater cable information was now being sent between continents quickly? The speed of internal migration south to north , rural to city
    thanks for listing this book.

  2. alexp says:

    Chris,

    I must say that this was not my favorite book in that class. It’s an easy read, but for some reason it was difficult for me to read. It seemed very general and vague at times.

    In my undergrad we read a book for a class based on the years Wiebe uses (U.S. History 1877-1920). I liked this book so much more than I did Wiebe’s.

    http://www.amazon.com/Shaping-Modern-America-1877-1920/dp/0882959530/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

  3. The search for order. Order a word used by the Nazi party, most extreme groups use the term order the need for order. Does the author discuss this at all? It is my belief that left – right extreme political groups become the same.

  4. Books that have dates in their titles offer a period to focus on.Iif the author or had added 5 years this might have been included: Not just the rise of the KKK but it moving from the rural South to the larger urban areas of the North. Then in 1925 the trial of Klan Wizard of Indiana, Stephenson, of the abduction, rape, and abuse of Madge Oberholtzon. Stephenson not only beat her but bit her such that that the evidence when she escaped and made it to a hospital showed teeth marks so deep and bloody it looked as if she was attacked by an animal. Which she was. During his trial he laughed at the judge and jury bragging that the governor, Mayor of Indianapolis, 4 sheriffs and a list of local officials owed their positions t the KKK. As the KKK positioned themselves as the guardians of American Morality it had disastrous effect on it, and he was convicted. There was the court case of Saco and Vanzetti. In Dayton Tennessee the Scopes “Monkey Trial began. In 1925 Al Capone became the King ofthe Chicago underworld after eliminating all rivals. On a less violent area aby 1925 the literary cream(?) of American literature emigrated to Paris, Hemmingway, E.E.Cumings, John dos Pasos, Malcolm Crowly, What this group had in common was an involvement in World War I. However I do think back to 1921 when Warren Harding ran on the theme “Return to Normalcy.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>