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Author Prout, Jerry, author

Title Coxey's crusade for jobs : unemployment in the Gilded Age / Jerry Prout
Published Dekalb : Northern Illinois University Press, [2016]

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Contents -- Introduction-The Cause of the Unemployed -- 1-They Sleep on Marble Floors -- 2-The Good Roads Plan -- 3-A Millenarian Spectacle -- 4-Through the Prism of the Argus-Eyed -- 5-â#x80;#x9C;Coxey Is Comingâ#x80;#x9D; -- Epilogue-The Crusade Continued -- Notes -- Bibliography
Summary "In the depths of a depression in 1894, a highly successful Gilded Age businessman named Jacob Coxey led a group of jobless men on a march from his hometown of Massillon, Ohio, to the steps of the nation's Capitol. Though a financial panic and the resulting widespread business failures caused millions of Americans to be without work at the time, the word unemployment was rarely used and generally misunderstood. In an era that worshipped the self-reliant individual who triumphed in a laissez-faire market, the out-of-work "tramp" was disparaged as weak or flawed, and undeserving of assistance. Private charities were unable to meet the needs of the jobless, and only a few communities experimented with public works programs. Despite these limitations, Coxey conceived a plan to put millions back to work building a nationwide system of roads and drew attention to his idea with the march to Washington. In Coxey's Crusade for Jobs, Jerry Prout recounts Coxey's story and adds depth and context by focusing on the reporters who were embedded in the march. Their fascinating depictions of life on the road occupied the headlines and front pages of America's newspapers for more than a month, turning the spectacle into a serialized drama. These accounts humanized the idea of unemployment and helped Americans realize that in a new industrial economy, unemployment was not going away and the unemployed deserved attention. This unique study will appeal to scholars and students interested in the Gilded Age and US and labor history"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject Coxey, Jacob Sechler, 1854-1951.
SUBJECT Coxey, Jacob Sechler, 1854-1951 fast
Subject Coxey's Army.
SUBJECT Coxey's Army fast
Subject Labor -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Unemployment -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Working class -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Unemployed -- United States -- History -- 19th century
HISTORY -- United States -- 19th century.
Labor
Unemployed
Unemployment
Working class
United States
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2016012841
ISBN 9781609091972
1609091973
0875804985
9780875804989
9781501756900
1501756907