#Michael McGerr, ''[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195183657/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195183657&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=EYLEHBBYOFZZANVG A Fierce Discontent: The Rise and Fall of the Progressive Movement in America, 1870-1920]'' (Oxford University Press, 2005) McGerr's book shows how Progressive reformers walked a fine line balancing between advancing the social good and individual liberty. She describes how conservatives eventually slowed the tide of social reform and pushed back against the increasingly liberal use of governmental power.
#W. H. Brands, ''[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307386775/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0307386775&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=PAB2ZVB6OJGNZRSX American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900]'' (Random House, 2010) American Colossus describes the rise of capitalist titans such J. Pierpont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. Brands places these titans at the center of a tale to show how capitalism connected to Reconstruction, the Indian Wars, the urban labor and agraian populists. In addition to being an outstanding historian, American Colossus is the work of extraordinary storyteller.
#Glenda Elizabeth Gilmore, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807845965/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0807845965&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=63b3f1f5ae7b5319fb435de70358dcbb Gender and Jim Crow: Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920 Gender and Jim Crow : Women and the Politics of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1896-1920]'' (UNC Press, 1996) Between Gender and Jim and Crow and Gilmore's other masterpiece Defying Dixie, Gilmore has illuminated the critical role African American women played as civil rights activists. As Jim Crow reordered southern society, women fought for the creation of southern progressivism. Gilmore's book is unique take on the expansion and impact of Jim Crow.
#Edward L. Ayers, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0195326881/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0195326881&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=e61efea8bf3f1f272083a6c8d564d53a The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction]'' (Oxford University Press, 2007 - 15th Anniversary edition) Ayers book is a nuanced and complete view of the South after Reconstruction. Ayers is more concerned with everyday citizens than political actors, but this approach shows how the South balanced tradition and a modernizing world.
[[File:Metaphysical.jpg|right|thumbnail|250px|<i>The Metaphysical Club</i> by Louis Menand]]
#Louis Menand, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374528497/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0374528497&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=90cc56b6a3388a6c824f90a3594d5571 The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America]'' (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002) The Metaphysical Club won the Pulitzer prize for its extraordinary take on a group of Progressive Era intellectuals. His book shows how these intellectuals brought America into the modern world with their brand of philosophical pragmatism.
#Daniel T. Rodgers, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0674002016/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0674002016&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=3f67586baef44712333003bc6bd3f44b Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age]'' (Belknap Press, 2000 ) Rodgers demonstrates the trans-Atlantic nature of progressivism. Instead of being simply American phenomenon, Rodgers shows how progressives relied on an international network of people with similar goals.
#Robert H. Wiebe, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0809001047/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0809001047&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=24fbe534e8cfc7c3abc83dda22a2e369 The Search for Order, 1877-1920]'' (Hill and Wang, 1966) Wiebe's innovative book shows how the spread of technology, science and industrialization forced America to create a unified nation in an increasing impersonal world. While Wiebe's work was published in 1966, it is still an essential book for understanding the Progressive Era.
[[Category:Booklists]] [[Category:United States History]] [[Category:Gilded Age]] [[Category:Progressive Era]][[Category:History Booklists]]