Man's Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War

Banks failed, credit contracted, inequality grew, and people everywhere were out of work while political paralysis and...
€66,60 EUR
€66,60 EUR
SKU: 9780674659544
Product Type: Books
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Author: Philip F. Gura
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: €66,60
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Man's Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War by Gura, Philip F.

Man's Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War

€66,60

Man's Better Angels: Romantic Reformers and the Coming of the Civil War

€66,60
Author: Philip F. Gura
Format: Hardcover
Language: English

Banks failed, credit contracted, inequality grew, and people everywhere were out of work while political paralysis and slavery threatened to rend the nation in two. As financial crises always have, the Panic of 1837 drew forth a plethora of reformers who promised to restore America to greatness. Animated by an ethic of individualism and self-reliance, they became prophets of a new moral order: if only their fellow countrymen would call on each individual's God-given better instincts, the most intractable problems could be resolved.

Inspired by this reformist fervor, Americans took to strict dieting, water cures, phrenology readings, mesmerism, utopian communities, free love, mutual banking, and a host of other elaborate self-improvement schemes. Vocal activists were certain that solutions to the country's ills started with the reformation of individuals, and through them communities, and through communities the nation. This set of assumptions ignored the hard political and economic realities at the core of the country's malaise, however, and did nothing to prevent another financial panic twenty years later, followed by secession and civil war.

Focusing on seven individuals--George Ripley, Horace Greeley, William B. Greene, Orson Squire Fowler, Mary Gove Nichols, Henry David Thoreau, and John Brown--Philip Gura explores their efforts, from the comical to the homicidal, to beat a new path to prosperity. A narrative of people and ideas, Man's Better Angels captures an intellectual moment in American history that has been overshadowed by the Civil War and the pragmatism that arose in its wake.



Author: Philip F. Gura
Publisher: Belknap
Published: 04/10/2017
Pages: 328
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.80w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9780674659544


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 02/13/2017
Library Journal 03/01/2017 pg. 93
Choice 09/01/2017

About the Author
Gura, Philip F.: - Philip F. Gura is William S. Newman Distinguished Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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