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Progress and Poverty by Henry George
After seeing poverty in India and land-grabbing greed in California, George wrote the Progress and Poverty. To George, pressure of a growing population on a fixed supply of land pushed property values up. This showed unearned profits on owners of land. An 100 percent tax on profits would stimulate the economic growth and eliminate unfair inequalities. Because of this belief, George became a most controversial figure. Gradually, his book gain popularity and sold 3 million copies. -
A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson
Helen Hunt Jackson pricked the moral sense of Americans with her novel, A Century of Dishonor. The book explained the wrongdoings of the U.S. govenment in treating the Indians. Inspired sympathy for the Indians. -
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
Regarded as trash by Boston critics, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was among American masterpieces. Twain was quite a character himself; he lived on the Mississippi River for a while as a riverboat pilot. Then, he went bankrupt and was forced to give lectures and amuse the human race. In 1907, Twain was awarded with England's Oxford University's honorary degree. Twain was known for capturing the realism and humor in the authentic American dialect. -
Looking Backward by Edwards Bellamy
Bellamy was another quiet journalist-reformer with great power. His book was a socialistic novel that took place in 2000 where the people looked back in the past to find that the social and economic injustices of 1887 have melted away under an idyllic government. The book sold millions of copies. It heavily influenced American reform movements near the end of the century. -
The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783 by Alfred Thayer Mahan
Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan argued that control of the sea was the key to world dominance. His book was read by English, Germans, Japanese as well as the Americans. He helped stimulate the naval race amongst these countries to gain the momentum around the turn of the century. U.S. strived to build a better navy. -
Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis by Reverend Josiah Strong
Missionaries inspired Reverend Strong to write this novel. He was focused on looking overseas to convert people. He trumpeted the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon civilization and summoned U.S. to spread their religion to the "backwards" peoples. -
Wealth Against Commonwealth by Henry Demarest Lloyd
Prior to the 1900s authors and politicians were pinpointing targets for progressive attacks. In 1894, Lloyd charged the Standard Oil Company with his book Wealth Against Commonwealth with corruption and wrongdoing. Many authors followed his examples and accused other big corporations with similar accusations. -
Women and Economics by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Woman were growing more idependant in urban environments. In 1898, Gilman published Women and Economics, a classic of feminist literature. She called upon women to contribute to the larger life of the community by productive involvement in the economy. She also advocated centralized nurseries and cooperative kitchens to boost women's participation in work place. -
Beginning of agressive magazines
Around 1902, fierce circulation wars amongst McClure's, Cosmopolitan, Collier's, and Everybody's. These magazines dug deep for dirt that the people loved to read. President Roosevelt nicknamed this people as "muckrakers" becuase he compared the mudslinging magazine dirt-diggers to the figure in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. However, muckrakers boomed. They exposed scandalous stories that some were put in a collection and sold as books. -
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
At time, Americans were searching for safer canned goods. Sinclair wanted his novel to be focused on the workers in the big canning factories, however, instead he appalled the public with the description of the unsanitary food that was being produced.
