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Loading... Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics (edition 2014)by Michael Wolraich (Author)
Work InformationUnreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics by Michael Wolraich
   None No current Talk conversations about this book.   This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ) stephivist | Jan 26, 2016 |  This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.You can tell you're reading a good narrative history when, despite knowing in broad terms how the story turns out, you find your heart pounding as you read. Author Michael Wolraich draws that kind of tension out of a story of political campaigns and legislative maneuvering between Progressive Republicans (Sen. Bob La Follette and, ultimately, former President Teddy Roosevelt) and Standpatter Republicans (above all, Sen. Nelson Aldritch), between 1904 and 1913. Wolraich provides enough context and detail to understand the major policy issues, but the story really focuses on the repeated clashes between the main characters. One of the pleasures of the book is the series of cynical epigraphs, at the start of each chapter, by 'Uncle Joe' Cannon, the Speaker of the House, who had no use for the idealism of the various Progressives and was shameless in his use of his authority to dominate the legislative agenda. These epigraphs serve as an excellent ground and counterpoint to the passionate rhetoric of justice, fairness, and wisdom invoked by the other major figures in the book. ( ) bezoar44 | Nov 16, 2015 | This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. lakanta | Dec 14, 2014 | This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. cweller | Oct 28, 2014 | This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.This is a story with much relevance to America today. The Progressives believed that America's largest business combines--Standard Oil, the railroads, the meat packers, the sugar importers--schemed and colluded to limit competition, gouge the public with monopolistic pricing, and endanger public health, all the while buying the legislation they wanted from Congress and state legislatures. How such practices were curbed, at least in part, makes for a book that is all the more interesting due to its striking parallels with contemporary American politics. How little American corporate capitalism has changed in a century! ( ) Illiniguy71 | Oct 15, 2014 | no reviews | add a review
History.
Politics.
Nonfiction.
HTML: At the turn of the twentieth century, the Republican Party stood at the brink of an internal civil war. After a devastating financial crisis, furious voters sent a new breed of politician to Washington. These young Republican firebrands, led by "Fighting Bob" La Follette of Wisconsin, vowed to overthrow the party leaders and purge Wall Street's corrupting influence from Washington. Their opponents called them "radicals," and "fanatics." They called themselves Progressives. President Theodore Roosevelt disapproved of La Follette's confrontational methods. Fearful of splitting the party, he compromised with the conservative House Speaker, "Uncle Joe" Cannon, to pass modest reforms. But as La Follette's crusade gathered momentum, the country polarized, and the middle ground melted away. Three years after the end of his presidency, Roosevelt embraced La Follette's militant tactics and went to war against the Republican establishment, bringing him face to face with his handpicked successor, William Taft. Their epic battle shattered the Republican Party and permanently realigned the electorate, dividing the country into two camps: Progressive and Conservative. Unreasonable Men takes us into the heart of the epic power struggle that created the progressive movement and defined modern American politics. Recounting the fateful clash between the pragmatic Roosevelt and the radical La Follette, Wolraich's riveting narrative reveals how a few Republican insurgents broke the conservative chokehold on Congress and initiated the greatest period of political change in America's history. .No library descriptions found. |
LibraryThing Early Reviewers AlumMichael Wolraich's book Unreasonable Men: Theodore Roosevelt and the Republican Rebels Who Created Progressive Politics was available from LibraryThing Early Reviewers.  Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers  
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)973.91History and Geography North America United States 1901- Roosevelt Through Truman AdministrationsLC ClassificationRatingAverage: (4.38)
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