Join us for a timely discussion on the parallels of U.S. history in the wake of the Industrial Revolution with author Nancy Unger.
This highly illustrated talk demonstrates that there are a surprising number of instructive similarities between the long Gilded Age and the Progressive Era (1877-1920) and our own. These range from businessmen who claimed that their wealth and acumen entitled them to enormous political power, to debates about controversial actions affecting the public including civil service reform, immigration, sexuality, race, women, vaccines, and public health. It concludes with a reminder of the importance and power of civic engagement.
Nancy C. Unger is Professor of History at Santa Clara University. She is the author of the prize-winning biographies Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer and Belle La Follette: Progressive Era Reformer. She co-edited A Companion to the Gilded Age and Progressive Era and is also the author of Beyond Nature’s Housekeepers: American Women in Environmental History (a California Book Award finalist). She is past president of the Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era.
Nancy’s op-eds applying the lessons of the past to the present have appeared on dozens of platforms, including The Washington Post, CNN, The BBC, and TIME. Her radio and podcast appearances include Public Radio International and National Public Radio. She has worked as a consultant and provided on-screen commentary for PBS, and has been featured on five hour-long programs on C-SPAN.
