Podcasts about inequality progress

If any figure of the Gilded Age has major relevance on the lives of the working class today - especially those that cannot or struggle to buy a home - it is Henry George. The best-selling author and single tax advocate offered Americans and the world a big idea that could change the way governments tax its people.Essential Reading:Christopher William England, Land and Liberty: Henry George and the Crafting of Modern Liberalism (2023).Recommended Reading:Henry George, Progress and Poverty (1879).Edward T. O'Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015).Phillip J. Bryson, The Economics of Henry George: History's Rehabilitation of America's Greatest Early Economist (2011).Mary M. Cleveland, "The Economics of Henry George: A Review Essay," The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 71, no. 2 (April 2012): 498-511. Ramesh Chandra, "Allyn Young on Henry George and the Single Tax," Review of Political Economy 34, no. 4 (December 2022): 766-88. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the relatively short history of the United States, certain events irrevocably altered the direction of the nation and signaled the dramatic start of a new historical reality. Some took the form of groundbreaking political and philosophical concepts; some were dramatic military victories and defeats. What all of these turning points had in common is that they forever changed the character of America. Edward O'Donnell is a professor of history at College of the Holy Cross. He is the author of several books, including Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age. O'Donnell also has curated several major museum exhibits on American history and appeared in several historical documentaries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Capitalism's current troubles did not begin with Covid-19, but the pandemic has further exposed the grave consequences of inequality in developed economies and the fragility of global value chains. Populist movements (on both the left and right) are intensifying their demands that Adam Smith's "invisible hand" be assigned a local habitation and a name. Moreover, the harsh business lessons of Covid (PPE shortages, operational shutdowns, etc.) cast some doubt on the core tenets of globalisation.Robert U. Ayres, INSEAD Emeritus Professor of Economics and Political Science and Technology Management, joins us to discuss how the USA's post-WWII capitalist hegemony lost its way in the late 20th century, and what can be done to restore capitalism's global credibility in the face of Covid-19. In his new book, "On Capitalism and Inequality: Progress and Poverty Revisited", Ayres argues that the moral and ethical decline began with the rise of Wall Street speculation, which increasingly caused the world economy to resemble a poker game with dizzying stakes, rigged in favour of the wealthy and powerful. To re-establish a sense of fairness, Ayres recommends a familiar remedy: universal basic income, otherwise known as UBI. Unlike many UBI proponents, however, Ayres has a robust, provocative answer to the pertinent question of how it can be paid for.

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, it’s time for a special Labor Day episode where I speak with historian Erik Loomis about his new book, “A History of America in Ten Strikes.” The annual Labor Day holiday is often marked by last trips to the beach and backyard barbecues. But Labor Day was established by American workers in 1882 to draw attention to three things: First, the essential role of workers in creating all of the nation’s wealth and abundance. Second, that American workers faced constant threats to their well-being by abusive and greedy employers who forced them work long hours for inadequate pay. And third, that if workers succumbed to this oppression, America would cease to be a democracy. Rather, it would gradually resemble an old world society ruled by a small aristocracy. Long before 1882 and certainly ever since, American workers have had to fight for fairness, justice, equality, and dignity in the workplace. And these concerns are very much alive in 2019. So, as we debate issues like the $15 minimum wage, Medicare for all, Social Security, corporate taxation, automation and robots, and so on, we’d do well to look into the long history of workers and their struggles for a slice of the American dream. In the course of our discussion, Erik Loomis explains: Why the history of work and workers is central to US history. How the onset of the industrial revolution created new conditions for the exploitation of workers – and as a consequence – the first strikes. Why We should think of the groundswell of self-emancipation of enslaved people during the Civil War as, in the words of WEB DuBois, a general strike. Why laissez-faire is a myth that obscures the fact that the role of the government in labor-capital conflicts nearly always determines their outcome.   How and why racism has been a persistent obstacle to workers of different racial and ethnic backgrounds uniting along class lines against their employers.  Why workers in the Gilded Age believed in capitalism, but also believed that it had become rigged in favor of business over workers. How small but influential groups of socialists, anarchists, and communists within the labor movement have benefited workers, but also exposed the labor movement to persecution in the name of anti-communism. How federal policies and court decisions since the 1950s – especially Ronald Reagan’s firing of 11,000 Air Traffic Controllers in 1981 - have dramatically weakened the American labor movement. And, finally, what are we to make of recent labor actions – especially walkouts and strikes by teachers.  Recommended reading:  Erik Loomis, A History of America in Ten Strikes (The New Press, 2018) Philip Dray, There Is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Melvyn Dubofsky, We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World Steven Greenhouse, Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor Emily Guendelsberger, On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane David Montgomery, The Fall of the House of Labor Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age   More info about Erik Loomis - website   Follow In The Past Lane on Twitter  @InThePastLane Instagram  @InThePastLane Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast YouTube: InThePastLane   Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) Borrtex, “Perception” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media Photographer: John Buckingham  Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight   Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald © In The Past Lane, 2019

This week at In The Past Lane, the American History podcast, we look at a #MeToo incident from the Gilded Age. It involved a powerful congressman and a mistress he kept for ten years. But when he broke his promise to marry her, she did the unthinkable – she sued him for “breach of promise.” The scandal and subsequent trial captivated the nation. To explain how this young women took down a congressman, I speak with Patricia Miller about her new book, “Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the ‘Powerless’ Woman Who Took on Washington.” The #MeToo movement originated in 2007 when civil rights activist Tarana Burke coined the phrase to unite women who were victims of sexual violence. But it really took off in 2017 with revelations in the New York Times and New Yorker magazine about women coming forward to accuse film mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and rape. It has since gained increased momentum and legitimacy as more and more powerful men have been exposed for their abusive and often criminal behavior towards women. It’s quite common when stories of this magnitude make the news for journalists to look to the past for historical precedents. Think of the many stories about past financial scams that were written up in the wake of the Bernie Madoff scandal. Or past environmental disasters in the wake of the catastrophic B.P. Oil spill in 2010. Not surprisingly, the #MeToo movement has likewise elicited stories about sexual predators from the past, including re-examinations of the Clinton-Lewinsky affair and a renewed debate over filmmaker Roman Polansky who in 1977 pled guilty to raping a 13-year old girl and then fled the country to avoid prison. He’s continued to make films, several of which have been honored with Academy Awards. But as any good historian will tell you, one can always go much further back in time to find individuals and incidents that connect with our present. For example, have you ever heard of Elizabeth Jennings? Well, in 1854 – 101 years before Rosa Parks resisted a racist segregation policy on a Birmingham, Alabama bus, Elizabeth Jennings did much the same on a New York City streetcar. And like Parks, her resistance led to the desegregation of the city’s streetcars. Well, in this episode we meet Madeline Pollard, a young woman who in the 1890s stood up to the patriarchy and took down an abusive and exploitive congressman. Here to tell us more about it is Patricia Miller, author of the new book, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the “Powerless” Woman Who Took on Washington.   In the course of our conversation, Patricia Miller discusses: How women in the Gilded Age began to take on new roles, including the pursuit of higher education, entry into the paid workforce, and participation in a wide array of reform movements. How a 47-year old Kentucky lawyer and Congressman named Col. William Breckinridge began a sexual relationship with a 17-year old girl named Madeline Pollard. And how this relationship lasted a decade and produced two babies until it was exposed. Why the woman at the center of this story decided, despite the likelihood that she would be condemned as a gold-digging harlot, to go public in 1894 and sue Col. Breckinridge. How and why wealthy and socially prominent women supported Pollard in her lawsuit against Col. Breckinridge. How in the aftermath of the trial, women in Washington, DC and Kentucky successfully mobilized to bring about the political demise the Col. Breckinridge.  Patricia Miller is an award-winning author and journalist. Her work on the interplay of politics and sexual morality has appeared in The Atlantic, Salon, The Nation, Huffington Post, and Ms. Magazine. She is with me today to talk about her first book, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the “Powerless” Woman Who Took on Washington (Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Recommended reading:  Patricia Miller, Bringing Down The Colonel: A Sex Scandal of the Gilded Age, and the “Powerless” Woman Who Took on Washington (Sarah Crichton Books, 2018). Jean V. Matthews, The Rise of the New Woman: The Women's Movement in America, 1875-1930 Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age Martha H. Patterson, Beyond the Gibson Girl: Reimagining the American New Woman, 1895-1915 Cecelia Tichi, What Would Mrs. Astor Do?: The Essential Guide to the Manners and Mores of the Gilded Age Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 More info about Patricia Miller - website  Follow In The Past Lane on Twitter  @InThePastLane Instagram  @InThePastLane Facebook: InThePastLanePodcast YouTube: InThePastLane   Related ITPL podcast episodes: 044 Historian Richard White talks about his book, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 052, 053, 054 a three-part series on What Was the Gilded Age?  Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) The Womb, “I Hope It Hurts” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Discovery” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting Podcast Editing: Wildstyle Media Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2019  Recommended History Podcasts  Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris  The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald 

This week at In The Past Lane, the history podcast, I take a deep dive into the origins of Labor Day.  It's a holiday that most Americans these days take for granted. But it was born out of the crisis of the Gilded Age, that tumultuous last third of the 19th century that saw both the US economy boom as never before and social upheaval take place on an unprecedented level.  This unique holiday was first celebrated on September 5, 1882. On that day  thousands of workers in New York City risked getting fired for taking an unauthorized day off to participate in festivities honoring honest toil and the rights of labor.  This first commemoration of Labor Day testified to labor’s rising power and unity in the Gilded Age as well as its sense that both were necessary to withstand the growing power of business and industry. The Labor Day holiday originated with the Central Labor Union (CLU), a local labor federation – essentially a union of unions - formed in NYC in January 1882 to promote the interests of workers.  The CLU immediately became a formidable force in New York, staging protest rallies, lobbying state legislators, and organizing strikes and boycotts.  By August 1882 membership in the organization boomed to fifty-six unions representing 80,000 workers.  But CLU activists wanted to do more than simply increase membership and win strikes. They wanted to build worker solidarity in the face of jarring changes being wrought by the industrial revolution in the Gilded Age – the period in American history covering roughly the last 3rd of the 19th century. During this period the United States was transformed from what today we’d call a “developing nation” in 1865 to the world’s leading economic power by 1900. The favorite word of politicians and business leaders in this era was “progress.” But along with this tremendous increase in national wealth came a problem: widespread poverty. Evidence of this troubling duality could be found everywhere, but especially in New York City where mansions of big business tycoons like Vanderbilt, Morgan, and Carnegie arose along Fifth Avenue, while in the rest of the city two-thirds of the population lived in cramped and squalid tenements.  In short, the establishment of Labor Day signaled that Gilded Age America faced a crisis over growing inequality. The motivation to establish Labor Day also came from a growing sense of alarm among American workers over the growing power of employers over their employees and frustration over the unwillingness of political leaders to do anything about it.  Employers were free to increase hours, slash wages, and fire workers at will – practices that rendered workers powerless and pushed more and more of them into poverty.   These developments, noted labor leaders, called into question the future of the American republic.  As the CLU put it in its constitution: “Economical servitude degrades political liberties to a farce. Men who are bound to follow the dictates of factory lords, that they may earn a livelihood, are not free.  … [A]s the power of combined and centralized capital increases, the political liberties of the toiling masses become more and more illusory.” In other words, workers in the Gilded Age began to argue that in this new world of industry – one that was so very different from the agrarian world of the Founders - mere political equality (one man, one vote) was no longer adequate to maintain a healthy republican society. Modern industrial life, with huge corporations, global markets, and increasing numbers of people working for wages, required a recognition that republican citizenship included an economic dimension – not just a political one. As the reformer and labor activist Henry George wrote in 1879, “In our time…creep on the insidious forces that, producing inequality, destroy Liberty.”  The fact that all male citizens possessed the vote and equality before the law, George continued, no longer guaranteed them the blessings of republican citizenship. If one was forced to work 60 or 80 hours a weeks and yet did not earn a living wage, his right to vote was meaningless. He had sunken into what workers in that er called, “industrial slavery.”  Extreme inequality, in other words, would destroy American democracy. So these were the concerns that in 1882 prompted labor activists affiliated with New York’s CLU to establish Labor Day as a day that would celebrate workers and inspire them to reclaim their dissipating rights.  As John Swinton, editor of the city’s only labor paper wrote, “Whatever enlarges labor’s sense of its power hastens the day of its emancipation.” Now, we should pause here to note that the precise identity of the CLU leader who in May 1882 first proposed the idea of establishing Labor Day remains a mystery.  Some accounts say it was Peter “P. J.” McGuire, General Secretary of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners (and future co-founder of the AFL), who proposed the idea.  Others argue that it was another man with a similar last name, machinist Matthew Maguire.  Well, we’ll probably never know the answer to which Maguire deserves the title of the “Father of Labor Day,” but it is clear that both men played key roles in promoting and organizing the original holiday. And so it was that after months of preparation the chosen day – Tuesday September 5, 1882 – finally arrived.   Optimism among the organizers ran high, but no one knew how many workers would turn out.  Few could expect their employers to grant them a day off and many feared getting fired and blacklisted for labor union activity.  When William G. McCabe, the parade’s first Grand Marshall and popular member of the International Typographers Union, arrived an hour before the parade’s start, the situation looked grim.  Only a few dozen workers stood milling about City Hall Park in lower Manhattan. But to the relief of McCabe and other organizers, by the time the parade touched off at 10:00 a.m., about 400 men and a brass band had assembled. In the early going, the small group of marchers faced ridicule from bystanders and interruptions in the line of march because policemen refused to stop traffic at intersections.  But as the parade continued north up Broadway, it swelled in size as union after union fell into line from side streets.  Soon the jeers turned into cheers as the spectacle of labor solidarity grew more impressive. Marchers held aloft signs that spoke both to their pride as workers and the fear that they were losing political power and economic standing in the republic: To the Workers Should Belong All Wealth Labor Built this Republic. Labor Shall Rule It Less Work and More Pay Eight Hours for a Legal Day’s Work  All Men Are Created Equal  Many workers wore their traditional work uniforms and aprons and walked behind wagons displaying their handiwork.  Others dressed in their holiday best for the occasion. Midway through the parade, the throng of workers – now numbering 5,000 -- passed a reviewing stand at Union Square.  Among the many dignitaries was Terence Powderly, Grand Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, the most powerful labor organization in the nation. It then continued up Fifth Avenue, past the opulent mansions of the new super rich of the era – the Vanderbilts, Morgans, Goulds and so on, before ending at 42nd Street and Sixth Ave.  From there participants headed to a large park on Manhattan’s Upper west Side for a massive picnic.  By late afternoon some 25,000 workers and their families jammed the park to participate in the festivities which consisted of live music, stirring speeches on workers’ rights, and consumption of copious amounts of food and beer.  Thrilled with the success of this first effort, CLU leaders staged a second Labor Day the following year in 1883 and the event drew an even larger number of participants.  The next year, in 1884, the CLU officially designated the first Monday in September as the annual Labor Day, calling upon workers to, “Leave your benches, leave your shops, join in the parade and attend the picnic.  A day spent with us is not lost.”  Upwards of 20,000 marched that year, including a contingent of African American workers (the first women marchers appeared in 1885). With such an impressive start, the tradition of an annual Labor Day holiday quickly gained popularity across the country.  By 1886 Labor Day had become a national event.  Some 20,000 workers marched in Manhattan, and another 10,000 in Brooklyn, while 25,000 turned out in Chicago, 15,000 in Boston, 5,000 in Buffalo, and 4,000 in Washington, D.C.   Politicians took notice and in 1887 five states, including New York, passed laws making Labor Day a state holiday.  Seven years later – just a dozen years after the first celebration in New York — President Grover Cleveland signed into law a measure establishing Labor Day as a holiday for all federal workers. Labor Day caught on so quickly among Gilded Age workers because unlike the traditional forms of labor activism like  striking and picketing, or civic holidays commemorating victories in war, Labor Day drew together workers for the purposes of celebration. As P. J. McGuire later wrote of the parade, “No festival of martial glory of warrior’s renown is this; no pageant pomp of warlike conquest … attend this day.  … It is dedicated to Peace, Civilization and the triumphs of Industry.  It is a demonstration of fraternity and the harbinger of a better age – a more chivalrous time, when labor shall be best honored and well rewarded.” In the twentieth century, Labor Day parades grew into massive spectacles of pride and power. These annual events reflected the growing power and influence of organized labor in American society. The labor movement and social reformers pushed for policies aimed at limiting the power of big corporations and the wealthy, while protecting and enhancing the opportunity for the average citizen to live a decent life. These policies included the 8-hour day, increased workplace safety, collective bargaining rights, expanded public education, unemployment insurance, and Social Security.  Their success reflected a growing acceptance of the idea that for republican citizenship to be real, it had to include a baseline of material wellbeing.  By the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt enshrined “Freedom from Want” as one of the nation’s essential Four Freedoms. “True individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence,” he said. “People who are hungry and out of a job are the stuff of which dictatorships are made.” Roosevelt’s New Deal and subsequent moments of reform like President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “War on Poverty,” boosted the wellbeing of the average American.  So, too, did the influence of a strong labor movement. Labor’s power was on full display on Labor Day in 1961 when 200,000 workers processed up Fifth Avenue behind Grand Marshall Mayor Robert Wagner, passing on the reviewing stand dignitaries that included Governor Nelson Rockefeller, Senator Jacob K. Javitts, and former President Harry S. Truman. The result of reforms and strong unions was the steady decline of extreme wealth inequality. Whereas in 1890 the top 1 percent of Americans owned 51 percent of all wealth, by 1979 the 1 percent owned 20.5% of all wealth. But since 1980 the trend has shifted dramatically back toward increased wealth and income inequality. This trend has many sources, including deindustrialization, cuts to social programs, and the deregulation of Wall Street.  But a key one has been the decline of the power of organized labor.  In 1955 union membership reached its historic highpoint with 39% of the American workforce belonging to a union. Today, union membership hovers around 10 percent. And wealth inequality?  In 1979, as we just noted, the share of wealth possessed by the 1 percent had fallen to about 21%. Today, it’s closing in on 40% -- and rising. This trend explains why so many Americans have taken to calling this era, the Second Gilded Age. So this weekend, as millions celebrate Labor Day by not laboring, Americans would do well to reflect on the core claims of the early labor movement that invented Labor Day: Gilded Age workers and those who followed them argued that the nation’s democratic values and republican institutions were threatened by economic policies that left a small number of people extremely wealthy and powerful, while the great majority of citizens struggled to obtain or hold onto a piece of the American Dream. Today, this concern animates calls for a $15 minimum wage, single payer health care, tougher regulations on corporations, banks, and Wall Street, and greater investment in infrastructure and public education. So, Labor Day should remind us that while, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, all are created equal, they also grow up to live in a society shaped by policies and laws that determine whether opportunities for success are focused on the great majority of citizens, or merely on the 1 percent. Happy Labor Day, people.   Recommended reading:  Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (Columbia Univ. Press, 2015) Jonathan Grossman, “Who Is the Father of Labor Day?,” Labor History, 14, no. 4, (1973) Michael Kazin and Steven J. Ross, “America’s Labor Day: The Dilemma of a Workers’ Celebration,” Journal of American History (Mar 1992) P.J. McGuire, "Labor Day — Its Birth and Significance", The Union Agent [Kentucky], vol. 3, no. 9 (Sept. 1898). Follow In The Past Lane on Twitter  @InThePastLane Instagram  @InThePastLane Facebook https://www.facebook.com/InThePastLanePodcast/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeZMGFqoAASwvSJ1cpZOEAA Related ITPL podcast episodes: Related ITPL podcast episodes:   Episodes 052, 053, 054 – a three-part series on the Gilded Age   Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Andy Cohen, “Trophy Endorphins” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Discovery” (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, “Sage the Hunter,” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Dave Jackson of the School of Podcasting Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2018 Recommended History Podcasts Ben Franklin’s World with Liz Covart @LizCovart The Age of Jackson Podcast @AgeofJacksonPod Backstory podcast – the history behind today’s headlines @BackstoryRadio Past Present podcast with Nicole Hemmer, Neil J. Young, and Natalia Petrzela @PastPresentPod 99 Percent Invisible with Roman Mars @99piorg Slow Burn podcast about Watergate with @leoncrawl The Memory Palace – with Nate DiMeo, story teller extraordinaire @thememorypalace The Conspirators – creepy true crime stories from the American past @Conspiratorcast The History Chicks podcast @Thehistorychix My History Can Beat Up Your Politics @myhist Professor Buzzkill podcast – Prof B takes on myths about the past @buzzkillprof Footnoting History podcast @HistoryFootnote The History Author Show podcast @HistoryDean More Perfect podcast - the history of key US Supreme Court cases @Radiolab Revisionist History with Malcolm Gladwell @Gladwell Radio Diaries with Joe Richman @RadioDiaries DIG history podcast @dig_history  The Story Behind – the hidden histories of everyday things @StoryBehindPod Studio 360 with Kurt Andersen – specifically its American Icons series @Studio360show  Uncivil podcast – fascinating takes on the legacy of the Civil War in contemporary US @uncivilshow Stuff You Missed in History Class @MissedinHistory The Whiskey Rebellion – two historians discuss topics from today’s news @WhiskeyRebelPod American History Tellers ‏@ahtellers The Way of Improvement Leads Home with historian John Fea @JohnFea1 The Bowery Boys podcast – all things NYC history @BoweryBoys  Ridiculous History @RidiculousHSW The Rogue Historian podcast with historian @MKeithHarris The Road To Now podcast @Road_To_Now Retropod with @mikerosenwald

In the relatively short history of the United States, there have been many turning points and landmark movements that irrevocably altered the direction of the nation and signaled the dramatic start of a new historical reality. Some took the form of groundbreaking political and philosophical concepts; some were dramatic military victories and defeats. Still others were nationwide social and religious movements, or technological and scientific innovations. What all of these turning points had in common, is that they forever changed the character of America. Sometimes the changes brought about by these events were obvious; sometimes they were more subtle. Sometimes the effects of these turning points were immediate; other times, their aftershocks reverberated for decades. Regardless, these great historical turning points demand to be understood. Edward O'Donnell / Holy Cross CollegeEdward O'Donnell is a professor of History at Holy Cross College. He is the author of several books, including "Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age." He frequently contributes op-eds to publications like Newsweek and the Huffington Post. He has been featured on PBS, the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and C-SPAN. O'Donnell also has curated several major museum exhibits on American history and appeared in several historical documentaries. He currently hosts a history podcast, In The Past Lane.

This week at In The Past Lane, the history podcast, we present Part 3 of our multi-episode examination of the Gilded Age. In this episode, we look at some of the people and organizations that took on the problems that arose in the Gilded Age. In the case of the former, we examine reformers like Henry George and Mary Elizabeth Lease. And in the latter, we tell the story of the Knights of Labor and the People’s Party. Taken together, these people and organizations pushed the nation to rethink its commitment to small and decentralized government, arguing that to let big business and banks operate with no regulations would lead to the disintegration of American democracy. This three-part series on the Gilded Age should remind us that all the things Americans value in their nation – all the rights, laws, norms, and liberties that we would never want to live without – have come from struggle. None of them fell from the sky. Rather, they’ve always come from the hard work, sacrifice, and vision of people who worked against the odds to push the nation to live up to its high ideals. Among the many things discussed in this episode:  How did reformers in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era push the nation to redefine its understanding of the role of government vis-a-vis liberty? Who was Henry George and why did he wield such influence in the Gilded Age? How America has two competing traditions, individualism and the common good. What was the Knights of Labor and what did its members want? What was the extraordinary Henry George campaign for Mayor of NYC in 1886 about? What was the People’s Party insurgency of the 1890s? How did Gilded Age activists set the table for Progressive Era reformers? Recommended reading:  Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896 (2001) Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age: 1865-1905 (2006) Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (2003) Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015) Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (1987) Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford, 2017) Related ITPL Podcast Episodes: Episode 44 with Richard White on the Gilded Age and Reconstruction http://inthepastlane.com/episode-044/ Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Blue Dot Sessions, “Sage the Hunter” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Associate Producer: Tyler Ferolito Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Darrell Darnell of Pro Podcast Solutions Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2018

This week at In The Past Lane, the history podcast, we present Part 2 of our multi-episode examination of the Gilded Age. In this episode, we take a hard look at the dark side of the Gilded Age – all the troubling trends that challenged the ebullient celebration of progress in the late 19th century. We’ll start by talking about the broad fear that the US was becoming Europeanized – not ethnically, but rather politically and socially. If the great fear in the 20th century was that America might descend into communism, the 19th century equivalent was that America would regress towards Europeanism – that is, become a society dominated by an entrenched aristocracy, fixed social classes, stifled opportunity, and incessant social unrest. Then we’ll examine the key trends that stoked this fear of creeping Europeanization – the rise of powerful corporations, the extraordinary and undemocratic political power wielded by industrialists, the sense among workers and farmers that upward mobility was diminishing due to manipulation of the economy by big business, the troubling arrogance of “robber baron” industrialists, and the soaring incidence of labor-capital conflict. Among the many things discussed in this episode:  What troubling trends in the Gilded Age challenged the notion that it was an era of progress? What was different about the modern corporations that emerged in the Gilded Age. Why some Americans have always feared monopoly power. Why did many Americans in the Gilded Age fear the US was regressing towards a European-style society of inequality, aristocracy, and stifled opportunity? How and why the wealthy of the Gilded Age adopted the opulent lifestyles of European aristocrats. Why many Americans in the Gilded Age were concerned about the soaring number of labor strikes. Why American workers and farmers in the Gilded Age believed that big business was stifling their opportunities for success and upward mobility. How Gilded Age Americans came to fear the undemocratic political power of Big Business. Recommended reading:  Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896 (2001) Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age: 1865-1905 (2006) Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (2003) Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015) Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (1987) Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford, 2017) Recommended Viewing: PBS's American Experience documentary, "The Gilded Age"  Related ITPL Podcast Episodes: Episode 052 What Was the Gilded Age? Part 1  http://inthepastlane.com/episode-052/ Episode 044 with Richard White on the Gilded Age and Reconstruction http://inthepastlane.com/episode-044/  Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Darrell Darnell of Pro Podcast Solutions Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2018

This week at In The Past Lane, the history podcast, we begin a multi-episode look at that fascinating period known as the Gilded Age. This seemed a good time to do it because PBS just aired its new documentary called The Gilded Age. I was lucky enough to be one of the featured historians. The premiere on Feb 6 drew a big audience and rave reviews. And it’s not too difficult to see why: there are so many parallels between the Gilded Age (1870-1900) and the era in which we now live. The nation then and now was consumed with intense debates over wealth inequality, labor unions, immigration, terrorism, women’s rights, family values, money in politics, voter disenfranchisement, Wall Street recklessness, political polarization and paralysis, religion vs. secularism, individualism vs. the common good, free market capitalism vs. regulation and wars of choice vs. diplomacy. Many people these days want to know: are we living in a second Gilded Age? Well, the best way to find out is to learn more about the first Gilded Age. So let’s do it. Among the many things discussed in this episode:  What was the Gilded Age? What were the positive aspects of the Gilded Age that led many Americans see it as an age of progress? What were the negative aspects of the Gilded Age that promoted many Americans to worry about the future of the republic? Are we in 2018 living in a second Gilded Age? Recommended reading:  Sven Beckert, The Monied Metropolis: New York City and the Consolidation of the American Bourgeoisie, 1850-1896 (2001) Rebecca Edwards, New Spirits: Americans in the Gilded Age: 1865-1905 (2006) Michael McGerr, A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920 (2003) Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015) Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (1987)  Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford, 2017) Related ITPL Podcast Episodes: Episode 44 with Richard White on the Gilded Age and Reconstruction http://inthepastlane.com/episode-044/ Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) Lee Rosevere, “Going Home” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman, “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Darrell Darnell of Pro Podcast Solutions Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © In The Past Lane, 2018  

This week at ITPL, the American history podcast, we take on the last third of the 19th century, a period known as both Reconstruction and the Gilded Age. As many of you know, the Gilded Age is the period of US history that I specialize in. I know I’m biased, but to me, this is the most fascinating and compelling period in US history. It’s when the United States leaves behind the agrarian republic envisioned by founders like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, and plunges headlong into an industrial age that even Alexander Hamilton could not have imagined. It’s a time of incredible wealth production (hence, the Gilded label), as the United States surges to become the world‘s foremost industrial economy.And along with that comes the rise of great cities like New York and Chicago, and unprecedented immigration from Europe and Asia. It’s also an exciting age of revolutionary new technology. The railroad spreads across the continent, along with the Internet of the day, the telegraph. Electricity and electric lights begin to transform every day life. And yet, despite all this exciting progress, the last third of the 19th century was a deeply unsettling time. The rise of big business alarmed many Americans, because industrialists like John D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie acquired stupendous wealth – and with that wealth came extraordinary power. They could use that power to compel Congress or state legislatures to do their will. And they could force their workers to accept long hours, low pay, and dangerous conditions. And if those workers went on strike? Industrialists could count on the local police, state militia, or even federal troops, to crush it. And there were a lot of strikes in this area – 37,000 between 1880 and 1900. And some of them – like the Great Uprising railroad strike of 1877 – were huge and resulted in scores of people killed. And in between strikes, the evidence of rising levels of poverty and unrest was everywhere. The situation out in the heartland was just as fraught. American farmers struggled against the usual things like drought and locusts, but also predatory banks and railroads. So as urban workers join unions like the Knights of Labor, farmers joined Farmers Alliances that demanded the government regulate banks and railroads. Both movements represented popular resistance to an economy and political system that they believed had become rigged in favor of the rich and powerful. It would eventually lead to the rise of the Populists and the People’s Party insurgency of the 1890s. And there was great turmoil and violence elsewhere, in the American south and west. In the south, the first decade after the Civil War saw African-Americans gain full citizenship and civil rights. And they used these rights to build new lives as free people and to exert political power. But by the mid-1870s white southerners rose up to overthrow Reconstruction and impose white supremacy, establishing a racist and oppressive social order known as Jim Crow. And in the west, the US Army launched the final, bloody campaign to defeat Native Americans and forcibly remove them to reservations. I think you'll agree, there’s a LOT happening in the Gilded Age and Reconstruction, that last third of the 19th century. In many ways, it’s the period when modern America takes form. And because this transformation marked a new era in US history, it raised compelling and troubling questions about democracy, equality, and citizenship. To explore these questions and the answers and how Americans in the late 19th century struggled to answer them, I speak with historian Richard White, author of a new book on the period, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896.  Among the many things we discuss in this conversation:  How Reconstruction and the Gilded Age are inextricably linked. The Republican Party’s post-Civil War vision of eliminating regional differences and creating a unified, homogeneous republic. How and why the Republican Party initially fought during Reconstruction to create a multiracial republic based on equal citizenship but then allowed white supremacists to overthrow it. How Buffalo Bill created the popular (and convenient) narrative of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. How John Gast’s famous painting, “American Progress” (1872), became the iconic image of westward expansion and Manifest Destiny, despite “getting it all wrong.” Why resistance to the onset of wage labor explains so much of the civil unrest in the Gilded Age. Why most Americans in the Gilded Age feared the rich and worried that plutocracy and inequality would destroy the republic. How “cooperation” (and socialism) emerged as a unifying ideal in the Gilded Age among those who feared the rise of inequality and corporate power. Why all three major political parties (Republican, Democratic, and Populist) by 1896 agreed that the challenges posed by industrialization and big business required a stronger federal government. What Americans living in the second Gilded Age can learn from the first Gilded Age. About Richard White – website Further Reading Richard White, The Republic for Which It Stands: The United States during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896 (Oxford, 2017)   Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (1988)   Edward T. O’Donnell, Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age (2015) Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: A Grassroots History of the Progressive Era (1987) Heather Cox Richardson, The Death of Reconstruction: Race, Labor, and Politics in the Post-Civil War North, 1865-1901 (2001) Heather Cox Richardson, West from Appomattox: The Reconstruction of America after the Civil War (2007) Elliott West, The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story (2009) About the John Gast painting – Picturing History Music for This Episode Jay Graham, ITPL Intro (JayGMusic.com) Kevin McCleod, “Impact Moderato” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Hope It Hurts” (Free Music Archive) Ketsa, “I Will Be There” (Free Music Archive) Jon Luc Hefferman “Winter Trek” (Free Music Archive) The Bell, “I Am History” (Free Music Archive) Production Credits Executive Producer: Lulu Spencer Technical Advisors: Holly Hunt and Jesse Anderson Podcasting Consultant: Darrell Darnell of Pro Podcast Solutions Photographer: John Buckingham Graphic Designer: Maggie Cellucci Website by: ERI Design Legal services: Tippecanoe and Tyler Too Social Media management: The Pony Express Risk Assessment: Little Big Horn Associates Growth strategies: 54 40 or Fight © Snoring Beagle International, 2017    

December 19, 2016 - This week, our time machine swerves Into the Past Lane. Our guest is, Edward T. O'Donnell, host of the Into the Past Lane podcast and author of Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality: Progress and Poverty in the Gilded Age. You may not know who Henry George is, but his ideas swirled around the campaign for president throughout the recent election, and his approach to solving political and economic problems are timeless. Ed earned his Ph.D. in American History from Columbia University, and is an Associate Professor of History at Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA. You can follow him on Twitter @InThePastLane, give his show a listen at InThePastLane.com/Podcast, and find him online at EdwardTODonnell.com.