The "America" of this excellent book by the author of Six Days or
Forever? (the story of the Scopes trial) is actually Chicago, for
with John Peter Altgeld, social reformer and Governor of Illinois,
as his protagonist and the Haymarket bomb of 1886 as his catalytic
agent he tells the story of Chicago's political and social history
in the late 19th century, its fabulous wealth and incredible
poverty, its strikes, its luxury, and its crusading reformers,-
Altgeld, Clarence Darrow, the women of Hull House and many others.
By the 1880's the "Lincoln morality" of earlier years had given way
to the morality of success; compassion was forgotten in desire for
wealth. In Chicago, blatant, vigorous, booming, restless, this was
particularly true: labor conditions were appalling, sweatshops were
almost universal, child labor was a sickening sore and men injured
at their jobs were thrown into the street. Against this background
the Haymarket bomb, hurled during a strike at the McCormick plant,
exploded with a violence that shook all America and brought to the
fore such men as Altgeld, Darrow and Judge Gary who tried the
alleged rioters, denying them constitutional rights, hanging some
of them and sentencing others to life imprisonment, verdicts
questioned by many. Altgeld, a fighter noted for his reforms who
had already set his mark on Chicago's social history, was in 1892
elected Governor of Illinois and pardoned the rioters, an act which
brought him defeat at the hands of Gary; he died, still fighting
for reform, in 1902. Excellently documented, tautly written and
highly readable, this book is an invaluable contribution to the
literature of America's social and political development and
philosophy; it is a must for college and public libraries and for
students of social history. (Kirkus Reviews)
This work focuses on Chicago from 1892-1905, describing the forces
that had remodelled America from the rural society of Lincoln's
day. Here are the business leaders, labour organizers and
politicians, and new immigrants, all exposing the follies of a
generation lusting for material success.
General
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