Examines the history of this seaside resort city to explore the
larger dynamics of Progressivism, urban politics, commercial
leisure, and sabbatarianism. . . . A solid local history and more.
Its integration of local and national issues raises questions that
reverberate far beyond Atlantic City. --Journal of American History
Tracing the evolution of Atlantic City from a miserable hamlet of
fishermen's huts in 1854 to the nation's premier seaside resort in
1910, The Social Anxieties of Progressive Reform chronicles a
bizarre political conflict that reaches to the very heart of
Progressivism. Operating outside of the traditional constraints of
family, church, and community, commercial recreation touched the
rawest nerves of the reform impulse. The sight of young men and
women frolicking in the surf and tangoing on the beach and the
presence of unescorted women in boardwalk cafs and cabarets
translated for many Progressives, secular and evangelical alike,
into a wholesale rejection of socio-sexual restraints and portended
disaster for the American family. While some viewed Atlantic City
as a modern-day Sodom and Gomorrah, others considered the resort
the triumph of American democracy and a healthy and innocent
release from the drudgery and regimentation of industrial society.
These conflicting currents resulted in a policy of strategic
censorship that evolved in stages during the formative years of the
city. Sunday drinking, gambling, and prostitution were permitted,
albeit under increasingly stringent controls, but resort amusements
were significantly restricted and shut down entirely on Sunday.
This policy also segregated blacks from the beach and the
boardwalk. By 1890, more than one in five residents of Atlantic
City was black, a uniquely high ratio among northern cities. While
the urban economies of the north depended on immigrant labor, the
resort economy of Atlantic City rested on legions of black cooks,
waiters, bellmen, and domestic workers. Paulsson's description of
African-American life in Atlantic City provides a vivid and
comprehensive picture of life in the North during the decades
following the Civil War. Paulsson's work, and his focus on changing
social values and growing racial tensions, brings to light an
ongoing crisis in American society, namely the chasm between
religion and mass culture as embodied by the indifference to the
sanctity of the Sabbath. In Atlantic City, churches mounted a
nationwide effort to preserve the Christian Sunday, a movement that
grew steadily after the Civil War. Paullson's account of modern
Sabbatarianism provides fresh insights into the nature of
evangelical reform and its relationship to the Progressive
movement. Filled with over forty delightful historical photographs
that vividly depict the evolution of the resort's architecture,
political scene, and even swimwear, The Social Anxieties of
Progressive Reform is must reading for anyone interested in
American mass culture, Progressivism, and reform movements.
Paulsson has illustrated the story with over forty delightful
historical photographs that vividly depict the evolution of the
resort's architecture, political scene, and even swimwear. Martin
Paulsson is Professor of History at Trenton State College and also
teaches history at Lawrence High School in Lawrence Township, New
Jersey.
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