Historical dictionary of the Progressive Era, 1890-1920 /

Buenker and Kantowicz have edited an excellent, handy reference guide to one of the most important and certainly one of the most written-about eras of American history. Including entries for individuals, organizations, movements, issues, newspapers, laws, and court cases, the dictionary provides concise and up-to-date descriptions as well as bibliographic citations to the secondary literature on the people and events comprising Progressivism and its opposition. In addition, the volume bows to the contentious historiography of the period by including brief entries on the principal scholarly interpretations. Equally useful, the dictionary includes a 12-page chronology, a name index, a title index (useful for identifying the influential literary and social works of the era), and a subject index to the entries. Every reviewer can probably name two or three omissions; for instance, no Russell Conwell, no J.H. Wayland, no Appeal to Reason. However, there are more than 800 entries and the editors are to be commended for the accuracy and the clarity of the descriptions. Nearly everyone interested in the Progressive Era could find some important use for this volume. Recommended for upper-division undergraduate collections. -K. Fones-Wolf, University of Massachusetts at Amherst