Crusader Nation

October 17, 2005
In an elegant and substantive narrative history, Traxel (1898: The Birth of the American Century
) recreates America during the Progressive Era, a time when politicians, church leaders and ordinary citizens were on fire to reform society. Traxel looks at labor organizers like Mary "Mother" Jones, suffragists and prohibitionists (whom he simplistically dismisses as "small-town, self-righteous bluenoses"). Woodrow Wilson, whose presidency threads through this book, oversaw business and banking regulation. Victorian sexual mores gave way, divorce became more commonplace. Traxel suggests that America's crusading impulses were partially responsible for the country's entry into WWI, and ironically, the war quenched the nation's reforming zeal. Soldiers returned disillusioned and unable to find jobs: "ike the rest of the country, they increasingly felt that they owed only themselves." And so began an optimism about business and a determination to kick back and have fun that would carry America through the next decade. Traxel's approach is not especially original, and he overlooks the experience of African-Americans. Nonetheless, the book reads seamlessly, and it will serve a scholarly and general audience as a summary of an important era in U.S. history. 19 b&w photos.

December 1, 2005
Traxel (history, Univ. of the Sciences, Philadelphia; "1898: The Birth of the American Century") weaves many of the social, political, cultural, and industrial events that marked the Progressive Era into an engrossing narration that synthesizes previous scholarship about the period. He makes excellent use of anecdotes from published primary and secondary sources to recount the history of the -crusades - championed by the United States at the time. However, Traxel's account is not complete. Ida B. Wells and her antilynching campaign are not included, women's suffrage is only briefly mentioned, and the vital role of African Americans is hardly touched on. All deserved a prominent place in the book. Broader histories, such as Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States: 1492 -Present", do a better job of covering these essential aspects of the era. Nonetheless, Traxel's readable book would make a nice addition to academic and large public libraries." -Diane Fulkerson, Univ. of West Georgia Lib., Carrollton"

Copyright 2005 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 15, 2005
Traxel, the author of " 1898: The Birth of the American Century" (1998), tackles the Progressive Era in this comprehensive overview of one of the most socially significant periods in American history. Picking up where his last narrative left off, he introduces readers to an America on the cusp of tremendous social, political, and economic change. A nationwide zeal for reform was nurtured by a group of Progressive thinkers disillusioned with the inequitable strictures and constraints of both the Victorian era and the Gilded Age. Ushering in a new epoch of social consciousness, Populist reformers were able to promulgate agendas that included revising child labor laws, busting corporate monopolies, introducing unions to many industries, and pursuing the seemingly elusive goal of universal suffrage for women. Unfortunately, the stark reality of World War I and its bleak aftermath brought a temporary halt to the crusade, but not before collective tangible and intangible social leaps had been made in communities all across the U.S. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2005, American Library Association.)