America's three regimes : a new political history
Morton Keller (Author)
When historians take the long view, they look at "ages" or "eras" (the Age of Jackson, the Progressive Era). But these time spans last no longer than a decade or so. In this book, Morton Keller divides our nation's history into three regimes, each of which lasts many, many decades, allowing us to appreciate the slow steady evolution of American public life. Americans like to think of our society as eternally young and effervescent. But the reality is very different. A proper history of America must be as much about continuity, persistence, and evolution as about transformation and revolution. To provide this history, Keller groups America's past into three long regimes--Deferential and Republican, from the colonial period to the 1820s; Party and Democratic, from the 1830s to the 1930s; and Populist and Bureaucratic, from the 1930s to the present. This approach yields many new insights. We discover, for instance, that the history of colonial America, the Revolution, and the Early Republic is a more unified story than usually assumed. The Civil War, industrialization, and the Progressive era did relatively little to alter the character of the democratic-party regime that lasted from the 1830s to the 1930s. And the populist-bureaucratic regime in which we live today has seen changes in politics, government, and law as profound as those that occurred in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. As Keller underscores the sheer staying power of America's public institutions, he sheds light on current concerns as well: in particular, will the current political polarization continue or will more moderate forces prevail. --From publisher's description
Nonfiction
336 pages ; 25 cm
9780195325027, 0195325028
104862067
Introduction: The American polity and its regimes
The deferential-Republican regime. Old ways and new ; The Republican revolution ; From factions to parties
The party-Democratic regime : the Democratic polity. The culture of Democratic party politics ; Governing a democratic polity ; Crisis
The party-Democratic regime : the industrial polity. The age of the politicos ; A state of parties and courts ; The progressive interlude
The populist-bureaucratic regime. The rise of the populist-bureaucratic regime ; Bureaucracy and democracy ; Populism and party ; Epilogue: Today and tomorrow
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