The Roots of Southern Populism by Steven Hahn - Book Report/Review Example

Download file to see previous pages In many crucial aspects, Hahn presents the yeomen as non- capitalists. After the Civil War, ushered in the period of Reconstruction, but despite the great changes that took place, the fortunes of the small farmers were hardly ever improved. In his enlightening book, Steven Hahn makes an investigation of the upcountry region of Georgia and examines its non-plantation area.

Steven Hahn’s book exposes many salient details proving how the Southern farmers were buffeted by different forces and how the antebellum household economy was slowly unravelled. He also details the development and progress of various market forces and the ushering in of a completely new class of landlords and merchants into the market arena. Hahn’s book gives us a clear picture of how these major changes led to increasing tensions between people of the towns and countryside who became very angry and began to retaliate.

By the end of the 19th century, their resentment had fueled the Populist Movement. In his book, Hahn examines the rise of agrarian culture and radicalism of the South during the late 19th century and makes an exploration of populism’s kinship in relation to different movements like labour radicalism. In his examination of the changes that took place in the South, he directs his attention towards the social changes that took place at that time and shed light on the popular consciousness of the slave industry.

In his fascinating book, Hahn enumerates the social upheaval that took place during the 1880s and tells us how the Senate of the United States launched its very first examination of the “relations between labour and capital”., (Steven Hahn, 2006) The people of the Senate fully well understood the different forces that came to destroy the framework of the nation and hence joined forces with the elite members such as local politicians and ministers and also newspaper editors, thereby encouraging “class conflict” that resulted in the 1877 Railroad strike, the 1894 Pullman Strike, the 1870’s Greenback – Labor party and the like. Hahn also enumerates how during the 1880s, the Knights of Labor Tickets fought and vied for power in many of the towns and cities and explains in detail how the political scene of the Gilded Age faced the staunch popular challenges that came their way.

However, it was the rural Populist Revolt that blew out of proportion and set the stage for many movements to take root. The deepest roots of Populism were sunk in the South which took up the cause of their struggle. Through these examples, Hahn informs us of how the white yeomen farmers came to adopt the policy of “Populist alternative” (Steven Hahn, 2006) The reason for this study the author states was to “lift some of ….shadows” that obscured the process that the yeomen farmers experienced while trying to embrace a Populist attitude. ...Download file to see next pages Read More