An Age of Extremes (History of Us)

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Summary: Joy Hakim looks at the extremes of the Gilded Age
Review: Joy Hakim forewarns her young readers that "An Age of Extremes 1880-1917," volume 8 in A History of US, talks a lot about Economics, but also assures them that this time around it will not be a "yawn." This particular volume looks at the United States at what we now refer to as the turn of the last century, what Mark Twain called the "Gilded Age." However, the preface sets up the idea that this period was an age of extremes that saw business tycoons with great wealth and millions of immigrants living in poverty. While the Brooklyn Bridge and Panama Canal were being built Jim Crow laws were established in the South and the Indian wars ended in the West. Underneath this all Hakim reminds her readers that the United States is a nation of practical idealists and that in contrast to the Founding Fathers like Benjamin Franklin, the businessmen of the Gilded Age, such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, were unscrupulous rather than altruistic.

"An Age of Extremes" basically breaks down into five sections. The first (Chapters 1-7) starts with the rags to riches story of Andrew Carnegie and other magnates, as well as a dreamer of a different type in L. Frank Baum. The second (Chapters 8-14) covers American politics at the end of the 19th century, contrasting Republican support for big business with the rise of the Populists and William Jennings Bryan. The third (Chapters 15-21) offers the flip side of the first, focusing on the plight of the working class. The fourth (Chapters 22-28) tells how the Gilded Age turned Progressive, beginning with the Muckrakers and ending with the emergence of Theodore Roosevelt on the national stage. The final section (Chapters 29-37) begins with America's imperialistic interests in the Spanish-American War and ends with Woodrow Wilson leading the nation into a World War to save democracy. In between, T.R. remains the dominant figure.

As always, Hakim's book is richly illustrated with period photographs, paintings, editorial cartoons and the like, including a photograph of the Dakota apartment building seen from Central Park after its construction which will strike a chord with fans of John Lennon. The pictures reinforce Hakim's point that this period was a time of both prosperity and poverty, of idealism and corruption. The volume ends with the U.S. entering the First World War, setting up the revolutionary changes that would come afterwards in the Jazz Age. The strength of Hakim's volumes remains her ability to engage her young readers. This might be a good old-fashioned juvenile history text, but it has the energy of a CD-Rom or a great Internet website. The series is perfect for parents who are home schooling their children because Hakim "talks" to her readers as if she were teaching them in a classroom, anticipating questions and demanding that they look at history from the perspective of the people they are reading about in these pages.