Summary Of A Fierce Discontent

According to author Michael McGerr, the argument of his work A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, is “that progressivism created much of our contemporary political predicament” (xiv). While the author states that this is his purpose, his work seems to be more of a summary of the progressive era, devoting just a miniscule conclusion to connecting how progressive battles then led to the political situations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. If one takes McGerr’s work as merely an analysis over the progressives and their movement instead of a political commentary about today, the book makes much more sense. The author clearly defines who the progressives were, why they did what they did, and how they were related to the Victorians before them. From there he details the main battles of the progressives: “to change other people; to end class conflict; to control big business; and to segregate society” (xv). Finally, McGerr describes …show more content…
He argues that the values of society during the ‘10s was very much altered; an economic boom allowed for much more disposable wealth which in turn led allowed for a greater search for pleasure and leisure. WWI on the other hand was perhaps the greatest time for the progressives, according to the author. They used the war and the support for the war effort to push progressive ideals that while supported during the war, were ultimately unsuccessful during the piece that followed. American ideals had realigned and no longer supported the progressive movement, though according to McGerr, the lessons learned by the progressives are those still practiced in politics