Professor brings history to life

In his new book, "A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920," professor Michael McGerr examines the progressive movement, its successes and failures and sheds new light on how the movement has affected today's political philosophies.\nAmerican progressivism was a political movement that began in the late nineteenth century and was centered around both social and economic reform. \nIn his book, McGerr explains how the spirit of progressivism and its sweeping reform has ultimately caused a more cautious political climate today. His book offers the idea of progressivism as the birth of modern liberalism and the idea of channeling the power of government to shape many aspects of people's everyday lives.\n"One thing that this book tries to explain is how basic political ideals in America, such as liberalism and conservatism, are rooted in the progressive movement," said McGerr, Interim Chair of the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. \nMcGerr displays progressivism's social and economic reform as being mainly middle-class driven.\n"Historians have debated the sources, meaning and impact of progressivism for decades, and some have questioned whether it even existed as a comprehensive reform movement," said Joanne Meyerowitz, editor of the Journal of American History. "McGerr enters these debates and identifies progressivism as a distinctly middle-class attempt to redirect human behavior. The members of \nMcGerr's progressive middle class were self-conscious post-Victorians, who called for cross-class organizations, state intervention to address social and economic problems and new relationships between men and women." \nMcGerr's book also follows the stunning failure and rejection of progressivism, pointing out the movement's failure in the area of racial equality. \n"One of the main points for me is that despite the progressives' push for reform in many areas, they were pessimistic about race relations, and actually opted for segregation," McGerr said. \nMeyerowitz said progressives' "post-Victorian" middle-class views about racial segregation and other issues eventually failed to catch on, leading to its demise. \n"In the end, they failed to impose their vision on other Americans," he said. "They condescended to the 'masses,' and they endorsed racial segregation, setting the stage for another century of racial injustice." \nIn addition, the progressives' views on bettering society by limiting individual freedoms proved unsuccessful.\n"They underestimated the power of an individualist ethos and the promises of commercial culture," said Meyerowitz. \nToday's reformers have learned from the progressives not to try for too much reform at once. \n"From the 1920s on, other reformers borrowed from the progressives' ideals and built on their legacies, but later reformers, McGerr argues, were neither as bold nor as ambitious as the progressive generation," Meyerowitz says. \nThis can be seen in the thinning line found today between liberals and conservatives, with fewer hard-lining politicians on either side. \nMcGerr's account of the progressives and their legacy in today's politics has received much acclaim amongst historians as well as in both Publishers Weekly and Library Journal. \n"I think Professor McGerr has written a superb book," said James Madison, IU historian and director of Liberal Arts and Management Program. "He makes progressivism come alive, with its hope of a better America. He makes its heroes live, its causes real, even in all its shortcomings and failures. The book is wonderfully written, with fascinating stories about one of America's most interesting reform movements." \nMadison said progressive ideals are still important today.\n"That progressive hope that Americans can cause change that brings real progress is a great legacy for today," he said. "And it's a great challenge for today, when some Americans are satisfied with things as they are or are so cynical that they don't believe in the possibility of progress."\n-- Contact staff writer Adam Watson at adjwatso@indiana.edu.