The Age of Discontent

How Workers and Farmers Reinvented American Democracy

Ralph Brauer

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English

Georgetown University Press
03 March 2025

Migration, immigration & emigration; Labour economics; Economic history

This revisionist view of late-nineteenth-century history credits Main Street, not Wall Street, with laying the foundations of modern America

In American history, the prevailing narratives of the tumultuous late-nineteenth century focus on wealthy individuals and tycoons while downplaying the very high social and economic stresses they caused.

The Age of Discontent reveals that it was not the tycoons, but rather the laborers and farmers, who in a great uprising of popular democracy reinvented the nation for the emerging industrial world never imagined by the Founders. Facing conditions far worse than previously documented, they overcame the frayed social safety net and violent opposition to pull off what the labor leader John Mitchell has described as the ""Second Emancipation,"" which addressed a dangerously tilted playing field with government programs and legislation. Based on meticulous primary source research and integrating music, photographs, artworks, and statistical data, this sweeping history places grassroots activists and reformers—many recognized for the first time—at center stage in a fascinating success story of perseverance and commitment.

By: Ralph Brauer
Imprint: Georgetown University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9781647125707
ISBN 10: 1647125707
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 03 March 2025
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Preface: Fables of Identity Introduction: The Discontented PART ONE: THE WORLD OF THE DISCONTENTED Chapter 1. The Grittiest Generation Chapter 2. Transition Stages Are Always Harsh Chapter 3. Dark Corners Chapter 4. A Threat of Endlessness PART TWO: THE DEEDS OF THE DISCONTENTED SECTION ONE: The 1870s Chapter 5. To Advance Agriculture Chapter 6. To Win Fair Treatment for the Living Chapter 7. From Some Lofty Height of Vision SECTION TWO: The 1880s Chapter 8. In All Things Essential Chapter 9. To Help and Assist All Employed and Unemployed Chapter 10. The Reinvention of America PART THREE: THE LEGACY OF THE DISCONTENTED Chapter 11. Widening the Gates of Opportunity Chapter 12. How Much Can You Buy Conclusion: A Second Emancipation Note on Sources and List of AbbreviationsNotes Index About the Author

Ralph Brauer taught American studies at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, and he is the author of The Strange Death of Liberal America (2006). He received a PhD in American studies from the University of Minnesota.