Democracy in Desperation The Depression of 1893

Subjects:

• Economics » Economic History
• Popular Culture » American Studies
• History » American History -- Nineteenth Century

Awards:

• Choice Outstanding Academic Book, 1999

Reviews:

• [The authors] have written a new examination of the 'Panic of 1893' and the five year depression it triggered. Today's softening worldwide markets have created interest in this major market contraction, and the authors achieve success with their attempt to trace and interpret its history in the context of national development....This is a scholarly work relevant for historians and economists; highly recommended for academic libraries.
  —Library Journal
• Steeples and Whitten, each an experienced scholar and author, have written a superb history of the 1890s. This is a work for all who are interested in the American past and future, not just economic history. Economic historians may relish the statistics and superb bibliography more than other readers, but labor and social historians will find much to interest them.
  —Choice
• [They] have used in a most effective way material drawn from a wide variety of sources to present a lucid account of the meaning of the economic, social, political, and cultural experience of the American people during a period of adversity. They have placed their account within the framework of the significant structural shifts that were taking place in the American economy in the last decade of the nineteenth century...
  —Labor History 2003
• This work provides a good overview of the depression and confirms for the reader that the decade of the 1890s was a "divide, however gentle, between a passing agragarian America and an emerging industrial power."
  —Business Library Review
• This book on the depression of the 1890's by Douglas Steeples and David O. Whitten presents a well-written narrative of the events of the depression and the effects of the depression on some aspects of the economy and government policy.
  —EH:NET:Economic History Network
• [P]resents a well-written narrative of the events of the depression and the effects of the depression on some aspects of the economy and government policy.
  —H-Net Reviews
• Everything is neat, comartmentalized, and free from the narrative sweep that a chronology might afford. This is a book for someone who wants the facts- with as little drama or philosophical musing as possible- and, convienently, endnotes at the close of each chapter.
  —The Journal of American History
• ...the study hangs together well....Steeples and Whitten have in fact produced an intelligent synthesis that rises above that variety of academic partisanship once denigrated in some scholarly circles as the frame of reference of the "Harvard Business School"....This is an impressive study and a significant contribution to our understanding of a vital.
  —The Historian

• Endorsement From H. Roger Grant
  Professor and Chair, Department of History
  Clemson University,: Professors Steeples and Whitten provide a much-needed examination of arguably the worst depression in American history, those five-troubled years of 1890's that began with the Panic of May 1893. They effectively demonstrate that hard times created a watershed in the American chronicle. This is informative reading for anyone interested in American history. The research is impressive and the style engaging.
• Endorsement From Michael V. Namorato
  Department of History
  University of Mississippi: Advocate for American Enterprise is, in many respects, a rare book. Although written primarily for a scholarly audience whose interest in American development determines the success or failure of any such manuscript, the work can and will appeal to the general American public not so much because of William Dana himself, but rather because the author, Douglas Steeples, has done an outstanding job in presenting this nineteenth century businessman as a living, breathing and very opinionated individual. Not only does Steeples have a gift for writing, but he is particularly good at choosing words that convey not only the message he wants the reader to get, but also the feeling he as the author has in conveying that message. There is no doubt in this reviewer's mind that Advocates for American Enteprise will definitely make its presence felt within the American scholarly community as well as on the general American reading public upon its release.

Table of Contents:

• The Panic in History
• Prologue to Panic
• Panic
• Hard Times: Profile of Depression, 1893-1897
• Recovery: A New Economic Order
• Social Repercussions
• Contemporary Reactions--Issues and Opinion
• Economic Crisis and Culture
• Depression Politics
• The Government Response: Cleveland Administration
• The Government Response: McKinley Administration
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Index