THE AGE OF REFORM The Age of Reform by Richard

In summarizing the book, it can be noted that Hofstadter divides his discussion into seven chapters. By beginning with an analysis of what he calls "the Agrarian Myth" and moving on to the reasons for populism, the study is able to focus on Bryan as a personification of what was needed in America.

As a political leader, Bryan was President Wilson's Secretary of State from 1913 to 1915. During this time he helped in the passing of reform measures. This is how the agrarian issue fused with populism: "Populism and Bryanism were the last attempt to incorporate what I have called the 'soft' side of the farmer's dual character " (p. 95).

From this juncture, Hofstadter moves into a profound examination of the Mugwumps, especially in the first section of chapter IV, "The Plutocracy and the Mugwump Type." This slang term referred to the Republicans who deserted their party nominee, J.G. Blaine, in order to vote for Grover Cleveland, who was the Democratic nominee.

As Hofstadter allows, Progressivism ultimately won out over this breed of political animal. "The newly rich, the masters of the great corporations, were bypassing the men of the Mugwump type " (p.

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The evidence for Hofstadter's point of view is clear in the passage of the country from the agrarian basis to the ever-more evolving urbanization of America. This of course reached a peak as F.D.R. took the industrialization to full capacity with the war machine in the 1940s. There are definitely strengths and weaknesses of this reform movement that transformed the country, yet the author primarily sees this change as inevitable. He does not judge the various progressive leaders. In chapter V, "The Progressive Impulse," he carries on a finely-tuned analysis of the urban scene and one of its worst by-products: the muckraking that occurred in journalism. To this extent, Hofstadter shows that this era is not that different from our own today, something that is evident when he suggests that "to an extraordinary degree the work of the Progressive movement rested upon its journalism " (p. 186), (We can see how true this is when members of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas hearings were continually quoting from various newspapers to make their points.) What the author is intent on doing throughout the book is to chronicle change as it takes place, without drawing a value judgment. Therefore, the Roarin
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1467
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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