SHGAPE QOTW: Periodization
Welcome to H-SHGAPE's Question of the Week!
Every other Wednesday, the list editors will ask a question about the Gilded Age and Progressive Era that we hope will provoke lively discussion. We encourage you to share your thoughts by typing in the "Post a Reply" box below the original post, or, if you're getting this by email, by clicking on the "Read More or Reply" link.
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How would you periodize the GAPE? And how do you think this periodization can influence our understanding of the period?
Don't be shy, hit reply!
2 Replies
Post ReplyI still have a problem with the beginning date, but I now lean towards 1865 because of Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Amendments.The end date remains at 1920 with decline of Progressivism e.g.Red Scare, Race Riots, and Strikes. Thus I'll
settle for the period 1865-1920 , including the industrialization,urbanization, and immigration that took place as well as the role of the reform movements of Populism, Progressvism , and Socialism. Let's not forget the leavening of frontier and world expansion
that adds to the concoction called GAPE.
Bruce Cohen
Worcester State University
What an excellent question! Heather Cox Richardson provides a historiography of the variety of answers before positing her own thoughtful ideas in "Reconstructing the Gilded Age and Progressive Era," in A COMPANION TO THE GILDED AGE AND PROGRESSIVE ERA, eds. Christopher McKnight Nichols and Nancy C. Unger (Wiley Blackwell 2017).