1890s: 1898

Looking to round out the 19th Century and begin transitioning to the next, I read David Traxel's 1898: The Birth of the American Century to learn more about the events leading up to and during the Spanish American War and how results of the conflict officially changed America's role in international relations.

In hindsight, the events of this year do seem to be a natural termination of the trends of the previous four decades.

Formal reconstruction and recovery from the Civil War was more or less over, with a new economic, political, and race relations equilibrium established. And the generation of the war was beginning to hand over the reigns to the next. I had never contemplated the concerns of having US troops on their way to Cuba pass through the American South--this was the first time since the Civil War/Reconstruction and no one knew how the public would react. The fact that they were cheered is telling of how the country's focus and priorities had changed in just a few years.

The changing of national focus had been seen in the fast migration and "taming" of the West, which had an almost sudden end, as the frontier was officially gone by the 1890s. Industrialization, with its urban focus and complementary need for trade, including international trade, to keep the economic engine churning was leading to a new interest in foreign conerns--a"foreign" concept to the isolated mentality established with the Revolution.

Urbanization and communications had allowed the media to emerge as major players in the country's actions, with the popular lead up to the war by the competing newspapers and their moguls as the classic example of creating news. It seems almost too neat of a story, with figures too large for life.

Traxel's book is okay. Not great, but readable and interesting enough. 2/5 stars. The main portion of the book is the war, but it is sandwiched between general survey history chapters on various cultural and political topics.

The book did, however, feel like a movie that was written with a sequel in mind.

The Germans were being set up as a future bully / enemy with their actions in the Philippines. The year ended with the European powers now having to consider America as a player in their events. And Teddy Roosevelt, after his introduction a few books ago, is emerging as a big hero.

1890s: Benjamin Harrison

The unlikely subject of my next reading assignment came about not because of my personal interest in Indiana history, but because his name appeared in several of the previous books, even if ever so briefly. And yes, his house in Indianapolis is next on my visit hit list of homes of obscure presidents. Hello, Benjamin Harrison.

Between the author's obligatory introduction and conclusion that make the case of Harrison as the first modern president and least appreciated, there is a surprisingly contemporary story of national politics, economics, and personal toll. Similar to Lincoln, Harrison was not the favorite candidate entering the nominating process but he emerged as the least objectionable and possibly the most winnable Republican. And like Lincoln, once elected he struggled with the selection of his cabinet, eventually convincing his biggest rival to take the secretary of state position. While we heard many comparisons to Lincoln when Obama chose Clinton for this position, Harrison's choice of James Blaine may be the better parallel. And unlike the amazing relationship formed between Lincoln and Seward during a unique, wartime situation, Harrison and Blaine continued to be rivals, one of the causes of their eventual downfall.

Also strikingly similar to modern political patterns was how similar 1892 was to 1994 and to what is expected in 2010. After several years of Democratic power in the 1880s and a down business cycle, the Republicans swept the presidency and both houses of congress in 1890. Seeing a mandate for significant change, they immediately pushed for large, expansive legislation to increase the services provided by the federal government, along with its budget. While several of the issues were clearly progressive and great with historical perspective (ie enforcing black, southern suffrage) and some are possibly as debatable now as they were then (pensions, anti-trust, monetary policies), internal party politics limited the effectiveness of a seemingly unstoppable platform. Senators and congressmen were more likely to vote based on what would get them re-elected and strike deals than just go with the president's favor. Yet still in the midterm elections of 1892, the Republicans lost control of Congress due to public dissatisfaction, and Harrison finally lost re-election two years later.

The foreign relations and economic monetary issues of the early 1890s are clearly primitive to the US and global economy of today. However, the questions and decisions made at this time were beginning to move the country's role from a self-contained, decentralized nation of states to an industrialized national power.

Here comes the Spanish American War and the battle of Populists and Progressives.

The book itself is good and typical of this solid series: 3/5 stars.

But before continuing on I realize I have skipped over some important subjects so I am going to go back a little. Primarily I need to read up on Reconstruction in the South.

(Read March 2010)

1890s: The Industrialists

The Gilded Age has always been a fascinating, if not romantic era to me with its larger-than-life capitalists, the shaping relationship with labor, the exponential growth of the economy, and the literal laying out of the infrastructure for the 20th Century. While focusing on the love-hate, and then mostly hate relationship of Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, this book does a decent job of describing some of the cultural and personal tensions that emerged as America industrialized. There were certainly cases of Horatio Alger rags to riches, as Carnegie himself almost symbolized. But for the masses this was not the case, and the romantic era was actually covered in soot, dangerous, and filled with limited earning power and opportunities for the vast, vast majority of individuals. While Carnegie appeared to internally struggle with this fact while at the same time allowing his sheer power and money to keep his own labors at bay, the author paints a picture of a more ruthless Frick who had no such notions of tension. Whether accurate representations of their own mindsets, the overall story is a good representation of a pivotal time in this country's development and tensions that grew and evolved into major story lines throughout the next century and still exist in a form today.

Book review: 2/5 stars. As the author noted there are many in depth biographies of the two main characters already published so he tried to create a narrative around their relationship. The middle part of the brief book told the story of the Homestead strike and riot that he tried to use to illustrate a turning point in their relationship. While that story was probably the most interesting part of the book, his argument feels incomplete and it is essentially a story within a story.

(Read February 2010)