Moralists and Modernizers: America's Pre-Civil War Reformers (American Moment)

Rating:
Summary: Introduction to antebellum reform
Review: Mintz's work is the most recent attempt to summarize antebellum reform. Shorter than the other two attempts (Alice Felt Tyler's outdated classic FREEDOM'S FERMENT and Ronald Walter's AMERICAN REFORMERS), he emphasizes the ironies of reform: the religious roots yet secular forms, the conservative self-image yet radical tendencies, the anti-institutional bias yet creation of enduring institutions. He seeks to find middle ground between historians who have highlighted the reformers' fear and desire for social control and those historians who stressed the reformers' hope and benevolent intentions. At its heart, he sees (most of) the antebellum reformers as true heirs of the American liberal tradition, by which he means the attempt to ameliorate harsher aspects of capitalism through collective and government action. (For a scholar who disagrees, at least for some of the reformers, see Leo Hirrel's CHILDREN OF WRATH.) Mintz succeeds in creating a readable and informative synthesis of the historiography in which the reformers are viewed sympathetically as worthy of our respect, however flawed they might have been. Yet, for all his consensus-building, some readers may find this book unsatisfactory in that too many questions are only treated superficially: What really motivated the reformers? How successful were they? What can they teach us today? That's okay. These questions are really topics for different kinds of books. An important purpose of a broad survey text like this is to prompt some readers to explore the topic in more depth, and I believe that Mintz has succeeded in this purpose. I recommend this work as a solid introduction to antebellum reform.

Rating:
Summary: Introduction to antebellum reform
Review: Mintz's work is the most recent attempt to summarize antebellum reform. Shorter than the other two attempts (Alice Felt Tyler's outdated classic FREEDOM'S FERMENT and Ronald Walter's AMERICAN REFORMERS), he emphasizes the ironies of reform: the religious roots yet secular forms, the conservative self-image yet radical tendencies, the anti-institutional bias yet creation of enduring institutions. He seeks to find middle ground between historians who have highlighted the reformers' fear and desire for social control and those historians who stressed the reformers' hope and benevolent intentions. At its heart, he sees (most of) the antebellum reformers as true heirs of the American liberal tradition, by which he means the attempt to ameliorate harsher aspects of capitalism through collective and government action. (For a scholar who disagrees, at least for some of the reformers, see Leo Hirrel's CHILDREN OF WRATH.) Mintz succeeds in creating a readable and informative synthesis of the historiography in which the reformers are viewed sympathetically as worthy of our respect, however flawed they might have been. Yet, for all his consensus-building, some readers may find this book unsatisfactory in that too many questions are only treated superficially: What really motivated the reformers? How successful were they? What can they teach us today? That's okay. These questions are really topics for different kinds of books. An important purpose of a broad survey text like this is to prompt some readers to explore the topic in more depth, and I believe that Mintz has succeeded in this purpose. I recommend this work as a solid introduction to antebellum reform.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Meditation on Antebellum Reform Movements
Review: Stephen Mintz's book is probably the most balanced study of America's antebellum reformers to ever appear. Previously, historians have castigated antebellum reformers as being perfectionists, social controllers, or just plain busybodies . Stephen Mintz's monograph strikes a balance of what reformers accomplished in a sea of human misery that was created by the Market Revolution. His chapter "The Specter of Social Breakdown" evocatively recreates America in the throes of societal breakdown.That chapter we can find the motives of social reformers in America. Mintz writes the " The Specter of Social Breakdown" because this is how Victorian Americans envisioned, in their own minds, what was happening to American society. Victorians were genuinely shocked by the evils that "The Market Revolution" had caused in America. Gangs, crime, drunkeness, prostitution, poverty, violence, and other social evils were shaking America to the core.Stephen Mintz's heavy reliance on secondary resources him to retrace the motives of reformers. Traditional methods of social control were collapsing under the weight of the Market Revolution and new modern measures were needed to take care of people. Before the Market Revolution America was a country where hierarchical society was dissolving after the Revolution. As a result, many people became more vulnerable to sudden economic depression and no where to turn for help. Furthermore, many people who were unable to take care of themselves found institutions of safe refuge. People like Dorthea Dix and others dealt with the mentally ill, the blind, and the poor. Other reform movements like the anti-slavery are also found in this era of reform. Stephen Mintz also details the personal biographies of leading reformers in America. Anyone wanting to understand the leading figures of reform should committ to memory just about every person named in the book. Finally, Mintz strikes a balance in the book when he shows that reformers did do some real good in easing America into the incipient stages of industrial capitalism. Unfortunately, as Mintz notes, that reformers had shortcomings that they could not rise above. This book is probably the best possible synthesis that has appeared on the topic of antebellum reform. Though a short book, readers would be well advised to read each chapter with care or miss key ideas and misunderstand others.This book is a fine introduction to a complicated topic and does make a real contribution in examining the motives of reformers and the real need for reform in America. It is certain that antebellum reformers have a mixed reputation but we should look further than older interpretations and debates.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating Meditation on Antebellum Reform Movements
Review: Stephen Mintz's book is probably the most balanced study of America's antebellum reformers. Previously, historians have castigated antebellum reformers as being social perfectionists, social controllers, or other negative comments. Stephen Mintz's monograph strikes a balance of what reformers accomplished in a sea of human misery that was created by the Market Revolution. His chapter "The Specter of Social Breakdown" evocatively recreates America in the throes of societal breakdown. Traditional methods of social control were collapsing under the weight of the Market Revolution and new ones had to be found. Furthermore, many people who were unable to take care of themselves found institutions of safe refuge. People like Dorthea Dix and others dealt with the mentally ill, the blind, and the poor. Other reform movements like the anti-slavery are also found in this era of reform. Stephen Mintz also details the personal biographies of leading reformers in America. Anyone wanting to understand the leading figures of reform should committ to memory just about every person named in the book. Finally, Mintz strikes a balance in the book when he shows that reformers did do some real good in easing America into the incipient stages of industrial capitalism. Unfortunately, as Mintz notes, that reformers had shortcomings that they could not rise above. This book is probably the best possible synthesis that has appeared on the topic of antebellum reform. Though a short book readers would be well advised to read each chapter with care or miss key ideas and misunderstand others.

Rating:
Summary: Not bad for a book I had to read.
Review: Steven Mintzs' Moralists and Modernizers is about three resopnses to pre- Civil War social problems in America: moral reform, social reform and radical reform. This book is about the reforms that abolished slavery, guaranteed womens rights, free public schools, educating the deaf and blind, sexual discrimination and many others. This book is about breaking up corruption, the social breakdown, doing good, virtue and liberation. This first reform in the U.S. has shaped how the U.S. is today. For a book that I had to read in college U.S. history is was not as boring as I thought it was going to be and it was quite insightful.