Herbert Hoover and the Commodification of Middle-Class America
Title | Herbert Hoover and the Commodification of Middle-Class America PDF eBook |
Author | Edward Gale Agran |
Publisher | Lexington Books |
Pages | 301 |
Release | 2016-08-15 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1498535739 |
Herbert Hoover rose from a rudimentary background to establish himself as a self-made millionaire and leading progressive reformer. Until the disaster that hit the nation in 1929, Hoover was known globally as the “Great Humanitarian” who had saved the lives of scores of millions of Europeans and Asians during and following WWI. As Secretary of Commerce through the twenties, the “Great Engineer” constructed, tooled, and fine-tuned the most powerful economy in the world. Hoover was celebrated as a representative product of America’s rise to global domination and a formidable voice for progressivism who could finish the job in the White House. The Depression was Hoover’s undoing, but historians recognize they must take account of his considerable contributions to the creation of “twentieth-century America.” As we learn more of that America, Hoover makes “more sense.” With due consideration of Hoover’s accomplishments, one can further understand the construction of the American industrial and corporate economy, progressivism and the New Deal, and political posturing throughout the century. Equally significant, one can comprehend twentieth-century “cash-box” culture and Hoover’s formidable contributions as a public servant to the commodification of American life. He endeavored to establish that all could fulfill a secure, middle-class life—in essence, achieve the “American Dream.” This concept in part was created by Hoover, who also was considered one of the nation’s public-relations geniuses. The political establishment continues to build upon the social and cultural foundation he laid. That foundation, while under stress, remains fundamentally sound as the nation enters the twenty-first century. The criticisms rained down upon American materialism echo dangers Hoover warned against. He subscribed to the maxim that a genuinely good society is not one premised upon material values; it is established upon a widely distributed sense of well-being grounded in service and compassion. Hoover never lost sight of the imperative of selflessness for the good of others, the nation, and oneself within an individualistically driven society rich in comforts and security. He sedulously worked to create a middle-class identity which spoke to material well-being and fundamental decency. A true believer, Herbert Clark Hoover energetically embraced the “American Promise.”
Herbert Hoover and the Crisis of American Capitalism
Title | Herbert Hoover and the Crisis of American Capitalism PDF eBook |
Author | Ellis Wayne Hawley |
Publisher | |
Pages | 160 |
Release | 1973 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN |
The antics of a woman's pet snake and parrot illustrate the concepts in, out, up, down, over, under, on, and off.
From New Era to New Deal
Title | From New Era to New Deal PDF eBook |
Author | William J. Barber |
Publisher | Cambridge University Press |
Pages | 256 |
Release | 1988 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9780521367370 |
This book examines Hoover's record as secretary of commerce (1921-9) and economic policy during his Presidency (1929-33).
Herbert Hoover and American Individualism
Title | Herbert Hoover and American Individualism PDF eBook |
Author | Walter Friar Dexter |
Publisher | |
Pages | 282 |
Release | 1932 |
Genre | |
ISBN |
A modern interpretation of a national ideal.
Up from the Depths
Title | Up from the Depths PDF eBook |
Author | Aaron Sachs |
Publisher | Princeton University Press |
Pages | 472 |
Release | 2022-06-07 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 0691236941 |
Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Biography A double portrait of two of America’s most influential writers that reveals the surprising connections between them—and their uncanny relevance to our age of crisis Up from the Depths tells the interconnected stories of two of the most important writers in American history—the novelist and poet Herman Melville (1819–1891) and one of his earliest biographers, the literary critic and historian Lewis Mumford (1895–1990). Deftly cutting back and forth between the writers, Aaron Sachs reveals the surprising resonances between their lives, work, and troubled times—and their uncanny relevance in our own age of crisis. The author of Moby-Dick was largely forgotten for several decades after his death, but Mumford helped spearhead Melville’s revival in the aftermath of World War I and the 1918–1919 flu pandemic, when American culture needed a forebear with a suitably dark vision. As Mumford’s career took off and he wrote books responding to the machine age, urban decay, world war, and environmental degradation, it was looking back to Melville’s confrontation with crises such as industrialization, slavery, and the Civil War that helped Mumford to see his own era clearly. Mumford remained obsessed with Melville, ultimately helping to canonize him as America’s greatest tragedian. But largely forgotten today is one of Mumford’s key insights—that Melville’s darkness was balanced by an inspiring determination to endure. Amid today’s foreboding over global warming, racism, technology, pandemics, and other crises, Melville and Mumford remind us that we’ve been in this struggle for a long time. To rediscover these writers today is to rediscover how history can offer hope in dark times.
The Politics of American Individualism
Title | The Politics of American Individualism PDF eBook |
Author | Gary D. Best |
Publisher | Praeger |
Pages | 216 |
Release | 1975-11-10 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN |
A Nation of Realtors®
Title | A Nation of Realtors® PDF eBook |
Author | Jeffrey M. Hornstein |
Publisher | Duke University Press Books |
Pages | 272 |
Release | 2005-05-11 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN |
DIVA history of the real estate profession that rethinks the impact of gender and class tensions in twentieth-century America. /div