Changing the World

by Dawley, Alan

• ISBN13: 9780691113227
• ISBN10: 069111322X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-03-01
• Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr

Summary

In May of 1919, women from around the world gathered in Zurich, Switzerland, and proclaimed, "We dedicate ourselves to peace!" Just months after the end of World War I, the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom--a group led by American progressive Jane Addams and comprising veteran campaigners for social reform--knew that a peaceful world was essential to their ongoing quest for social and economic justice. Alan Dawley tells the story of American progressives during the decade spanning World War I and its aftermath. He shows how they laid the foundation for progressive internationalism in their efforts to improve the world both at home and abroad. Unlike other accounts of the progressive movement--and of American politics in general--this book fuses social and international history. Dawley shows how interventions in Latin America and Europe affected domestic plans for social reform and civic engagement, and he depicts internal battles among progressives between unabashed imperialists like Theodore Roosevelt and their implacable opponents like Robert La Follette. He draws a contrast between Woodrow Wilson's use of force in exporting American ideals and Addams's more cosmopolitan pursuit of economic justice and world peace. In discussing the debate over the League of Nations within the context of turbulent domestic affairs, Dawley brings keen insight into that complicated moment in American history. In striking and original ways, Dawley brings together domestic and world affairs to argue that American progressivism cannot be understood apart from its international context. Focusing on world-historical events of empire, revolution, war, and peace, he shows how American reformers invented a new politics built around progressive internationalism.Changing the Worldretrieves the progressive tradition in American politics and makes it available to contemporary debates. The book speaks to anyone seeking to be both a good citizen within the nation and a good citizen of today's troubled world.

Author Biography

Alan Dawley is Professor of History at the College of New Jersey.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(12)
The New Internationalism	13	(28)
The Social Republic	41	(34)
Empire and Reform	75	(32)
Messianic America	107	(36)
World War and Revolution	143	(38)
World Leader	181	(38)
The Millennial Moment	219	(40)
Retreat from Reform	259	(38)
Progressive Rebirth	297	(36)
Conclusion	333	(8)
Epilogue: Legacy	341	(18)
Notes	359	(28)
Index	387