They are all red out here : socialist politics in the Pacific Northwest, 1895-1925 /

There was a time in US history when members of the Socialist Party of America felt certain that the US would embrace socialism as a more humane economic system than that of industrial capitalism. Between 1900 and 1920, voters elected socialists to 1,200 public offices, including 79 mayors and one congressional representative. Outside New York, socialist strength existed in the southern states of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas and in the Pacific Northwest states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Histories of southern socialism exist, but few works have focused upon the Pacific Northwest until now. Johnson (Augustana College) makes a valuable contribution to an area and a historical moment that has received too little attention. His institutional history of the regional chapters of the Socialist Party places the story of socialism within the context of Western labor and political history. He focuses upon the rank-and-file members of the party and their reaction to the economic disruption caused by the rapid industrialization and corporate culture that began in the 1880s. Ironically, Johnson's book appears as magazine headlines read "we are all socialists now." Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels/libraries. D. O. Cullen Collin College