A Very Different Age

The early twentieth century was a time of technological revolution in the United States. New inventions and corporations were transforming the economic landscape, bringing a stunning array of consumer goods, millions of additional jobs, and ever more wealth. Steven J. Diner draws on the rich scholarship of recent social history to show how these changes affected Americans of all backgrounds and walks of life, and in doing so offers a striking new interpretation of a crucial epoch in our history.

Praise

"Steven Diner's welcome guide to the Progressive Era helps us understand why the decades between 1890 and 1920 are known as the 'watershed' of American history, and how its transformations formed the basis for changes in our own time."—Kathryn Kish Skylar, Distinguished Professor of History, State University of New York, Binghamton

"Succinct and fluid . . . [a] rewarding social history [that] is an excellent book for both experienced historians and novices."—Library Journal

"A harbinger of a better day for readers interested in American history . . . Diner writes as a scholar but not as one concerned only about reactions among other scholars. [This work may] indicate not only a closing of the long-standing gap between popular and scholarly historical writing, but also that which has existed in the United States since the 1970s between the historical profession and the public potentially interested in what historians might say."—Ernest R. May, The Times Literary Supplement

About the Author(s)

Steven J. Diner

Steven J. Diner, professor of history at George Mason University, is the author or editor of five other books, including A City and Its Universities: Public Policy in Chicago. He lives in Washington, D.C.