Review: The Age of Reform

The Age of Reform by Richard Hofstadter

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



As usual, although less true than with [b:The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It|773961|The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It|Richard Hofstadter|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403194874s/773961.jpg|1713463], the author enlivens the exegesis of the American political soul. Often this is done with witty and insightful quotations from unpublished dissertations and obscure works like this one from [b:The New Democracy|15291690|The New Democracy|Walter E. Weyl|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-4845f44723bc5d3a9ac322f99b110b1d.png|20947333]:

"By setting the pace for a frantic competitive consumption, our infinite gradations in wealth (with which gradations the plutocracy is inevitably associated) increase the general social friction and produce an acute social irritation. There was ostentatious spending before the plutocratic period, as there will be after, for display is an inveterate form of individuation, older than humanity. Our plutocracy, however, intent upon socially isolating itself and possessing no title to precedence other than the visible possession of money, makes of this competitive consumption a perennial handicap race of spenders. We are developing new types of destitutes — the automobileless, the yachtless, the Newport-cottageless. The subtlest of luxuries become necessities, and their loss is bitterly resented. The discontent of to-day reaches very high in the social scale..."



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