Ruling America: A History of Wealth and Power in a Democracy

Published by Harvard University Press 2005

Ruling America

A History of Wealth and Power in a Democracy

Edited by: Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle

https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674037199

Overview
Contents

About this book

This book offers a panoramic history of our country’s ruling elites from the time of the American Revolution to the present. At its heart is the greatest of American paradoxes: How have tiny minorities of the rich and privileged consistently exercised so much power in a nation built on the notion of rule by the people?

Reviews

Undoubtedly, Ruling America provides valuable insight into historical periods that trace the growing power of an elite ruling class, but perhaps its true value lies in the questions the narrative prompts about the balance of power in the world’s most powerful nation… A pertinent reference for scholars in the fields of business, economic and political history. For business historians in particular, this book provides a solid foundation to explore the machinations of big business and government inside America’s ruling class in the context of a triumphant agenda.
-- Shakila Yacob Business History

One of the enduring mysteries of American politics, from the days of the Constitutional convention to the Bush administration, has been how, in a democracy, wealthy elites have managed to exert a powerful influence on public life. In this book, some of our finest historians address this question and in so doing offer a host of new insights into our national past and present. Class is the feature of American life that dares not speak its name, but these essays go a long way toward explaining how it operates in American politics.
-- Eric Foner, DeWitt Clinton Professor of History, Columbia University

This is a powerful set of essays on a sorely neglected subject: the history of the American elite in a world it has come to dominate. U.S. society has become less egalitarian in recent years, and Fraser and Gerstle’s polished and provocative anthology helps explain how it got that way.
-- Michael Kazin, author of The Populist Persuasion: An American History

Ruling America is a splendid collection of superbly written essays that probe the nature and importance of inequality in income and power over a 250-year period of American history. It succeeds in reintroducing concepts like ‘ruling class,’ ‘elite,’ and ‘establishment’ into our political and historical vocabulary. It is an impressive accomplishment.
-- Nelson Lichtenstein, University of California, Santa Barbara

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Introduction Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. The Dilemmas of Ruling Elites in Revolutionary America Gary J. Kornblith and John M. Murrin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	27
2. The “Slave Power” in the United States, 1783–1865 Adam Rothman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	64
3. Merchants and Manufacturers in the Antebellum North Sven Beckert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	92
4. Gilded Age Gospels David Nasaw Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	123
5. The Abortive Rule of Big Money Alan Dawley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	149
6. The Managerial Revitalization of the Rich Jackson Lears Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	181
7. The Foreign Policy Establishment Godfrey Hodgson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
8. Conservative Elites and the Counterrevolution against the New Deal Michael Lind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	250
Coda: Democracy in America Steve Fraser and Gary Gerstle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	286
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	295
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	349
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	351
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	355

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 384

eBook

Published: July 1, 2009
ISBN: 9780674037199