The United States as a Developing Country: Studies in U.S. History in the Progressive Era and the 1920s

by Martin J. Sklar

Overview

The history of the United States is in crucial respects the history of a developing country, not only in its transition from agriculture and commercial colonies to an industrial nation, but in modern times and the foreseeable future as well. These seven essays are primarily concerned with the U.S. as a developing country in the early twentieth century, undergoing stages of development from competitive capitalism to corporate capitalism, and from industrial to "postindustrial" society. The chapters treat the emergence of corporate capitalism and its implications for domestic affairs and foreign relations, the origins and character of corporate liberalism, and the central role of Woodrow Wilson in these areas. Critical linkages are also drawn among economic, political, and cultural developments in the 1920s, raising a parallel between Henry Adams in the Progressive Era, the "Young Intellectuals" of the Twenties, and the New Left in the Sixties. Martin J. Sklar is Professor of History at Bucknell University, has published articles in early twentieth century American history, and is the author of The Corporate Reconstruction of American Capitalism, 1890-1916.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521400602
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	05/29/1992
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	6.18(w) x 9.29(h) x 0.91(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Periodization and historiography: the United States considered as a developing country; 2. Studying American political development in the Progressive Era, 1890s–1916; 3. Dollar Diplomacy according to Dollar Diplomats: American development and world development; 4. Woodrow Wilson and the developmental imperatives of modern US liberalism; 5. Some political and cultural consequences of the disaccumulation of capital: origins of postindustrial development in the 1920s; 6. Disaffected with development: Henry Adams and the 1960s 'New Left'; 7. The corporate reconstruction of American capitalism: a note on the capitalism-socialism mix in US and world development; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"In a new book of essays, The United States as a Developing Country (Cambridge, 1992), historian Martin J. Sklar presents a model of capitalist development that is far more relevant to the present than the factory-centered one that still dominates much political and economic thought." John B. Judis, In These Times

"This book interprets American development in the early part of the century and offers intriguing perspectives on modernization and periodization; it also illuminates Sklar's own intellectual odyssey from outrage and despair over American life to acceptance and almost celebration." Emily S. Rosenberg, American Historical Review

"[These] essays present provocative ideas and offer an interesting perspective on the intellectual evolution of a member of the 'Wisconsin School.'...makes interesting reading." David S, Foglesong, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

From the Publisher