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Who were the protest authors in chapter 11 of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States?
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In Chapter 11 of A People's History of the United States, Howard Zinn discusses protest authors who critiqued the socio-economic issues of the late 19th century. Notable figures include Henry George, author of Progress and Poverty; Edward Bellamy, who wrote Looking Backward; and Populist writers like Henry Demarest Lloyd and William Harvey Coin. Anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, as well as socialist Eugene V. Debs, are also highlighted for their influential writings.
Chapter 11 of this book mentions numerous authors who advocated reform.
The first two mentioned are Matthew Josephson and Joel Spring. The former criticized President Benjamin Harrison, and the latter decried " the development of a factory-like system" of education.
Henry George wrote Progress and Poverty (1879). Many readers, suffering from the economic depression of 1873, welcomed his call for reform. His book was popular and was translated into many languages. George called for "equality of opportunity" for all people.
Edward Bellamy authored Looking Backward (1888). This book predicted a socialist utopia in the country by 2000. Bellamy espoused the nationalization of public services. His ideas influenced the platform of the Populist Party in 1892. His book was also read by the socialist Eugene Debs.
Novelist Bret Harte decried violence against Chinese in an obituary he wrote for one Chinese person who was murdered. Chinese immigrants had been an important...
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factor in building the railroads. They faced discrimination and racist violence throughout the nation.
Other writers, such as Hamlin Garland and Henry Vincent, wrote about farmers' plight. Farmers had debts and were often exploited.
Populist leaders wrote other books. The Populist Party was an important force in the country in the last decade of the nineteenth century.
Chapter 11 of A People's History of the United States is entitled "Robber Barons and Rebels," and it covers the period often described as the "Gilded Age," in which a very small group of corporate leaders amassed enormous wealth through corruption, innovations, and ruthless business practices. Zinn also relates how workers organized in response to these developments; he especially focuses on the Populist movement, an agrarian challenge to the existing economic, social, and political order.
Zinn also describes several writers who commented on the social ills of the late nineteenth century. One was Edward Bellamy, whose work Looking Backward describes a man who lives in a socialist utopia in the year 2000. This book, Zinn writes, describes socialism "vividly" and "lovingly," a contrast to the stark inequalities and brutal competition that characterized Bellamy's times. Henry George, another socialist-leaning writer, is also mentioned—the author of the critique of contemporary society called Progress and Poverty, who ran for mayor of New York in 1886. Zinn mentions some other writers as well. Anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman each published autobiographies during this period, and socialist activist Eugene V. Debs wrote extensively, earning a very wide following in the process. Zinn also mentions very popular Populist writers, including Henry Demarest Lloyd, who published Wealth Against Commonwealth, and William Harvey Coin, who wrote Financial School. These writers are significant because they called the economic, social, and political order of the period into question.