num_pages: 376
description: The "America" of this excellent book by the author of Six Days or Forever?, the story of the Scopes trial, is actually Chicago, for with John Peter Altgeld, social reformer &amp; Governor of Illinois, as his protagonist &amp; the Haymarket bomb of 1886 as his catalytic agent he tells the story of Chicago's political &amp; social history in the late 19th century, its fabulous wealth &amp; incredible poverty, its strikes, its luxury &amp; its crusading reformers: Altgeld, Clarence Darrow, the women of Hull House &amp; many others. By the 1880's the "Lincoln morality" of earlier years had given way to the morality of success; compassion was forgotten in desire for wealth. In Chicago, blatant, vigorous, booming, restless, this was particularly true. Labor conditions were appalling, sweatshops were almost universal, child labor was a sickening sore &amp; men injured at their jobs were thrown into the street. Against this background the Haymarket bomb, hurled during a strike at the McCormick plant, exploded with a violence that shook all America &amp; brought to the fore such men as Altgeld, Darrow &amp; Judge Gary who tried the alleged rioters, denying them constitutional rights, hanging some of them &amp; sentencing others to life imprisonment, verdicts questioned by many. Altgeld, a fighter noted for his reforms who had already set his mark on Chicago's social history, was in 1892 elected Governor of Illinois &amp; pardoned the rioters, an act which brought him defeat at the hands of Gary. He died, still fighting for reform, in 1902. Excellently documented, tautly written &amp; highly readable, this book is an invaluable contribution to the literature of America's social &amp; political development &amp; philosophy. It's a must for college &amp; public libraries &amp; for students of social history.--Kirkus
language: English
title: Altgeld's America
titlecomplete: Altgeld's America
characters: John Peter Altgeld
genres: Nonfiction, American History, History
ratings_count: 23
places: Chicago, Illinois
publisher: New Viewpoints