America has a long tradition of middle-class radicalism, albeit one
that intellectual orthodoxy has tended to obscure. The Radical Middle
Class seeks to uncover the democratic, populist, and even
anticapitalist legacy of the middle class. By examining in particular
the independent small business sector or petite bourgeoisie, using
Progressive Era Portland, Oregon, as a case study, Robert Johnston
shows that class still matters in America. But it matters only if the
politics and culture of the leading player in affairs of class, the
middle class, is dramatically reconceived. This book is a powerful
combination of intellectual, business, labor, medical, and, above all,
political history. Its author also humanizes the middle class by
describing the lives of four small business owners: Harry Lane, Will
Daly, William U'Ren, and Lora Little. Lane was Portland's reform mayor
before becoming one of only six senators to vote against U.S. entry
into World War I. Daly was Oregon's most prominent labor leader and a
onetime Socialist. U'Ren was the national architect of the direct
democracy movement. Little was a leading antivaccinationist. The
Radical Middle Class further explores the Portland Ku Klux Klan and
concludes with a national overview of the American middle class from
the Progressive Era to the present. With its engaging narrative,
conceptual richness, and daring argumentation, it will be welcomed by
all who understand that reexamining the middle class can yield not
only better scholarship but firmer grounds for democratic hope.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781400849529
Publisert
2013
Utgiver
Vendor
Princeton University Press
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter