Looking for a good book about the U.S. in the 1890s

by [deleted]

All I've been able to pull up in a google search is "The Reckless Decade," but Publisher's Weekly says it covers labor strife, slum life, the robber barons, and the Spanish-American War but not much else. I'd really like something, well researched of course, that gives a wide angle view of the US in the 1890s. Not just the history of the Progressive Movement or Populism, etc.

SteamboatDreamboat

As most historians will tell you, it's difficult to extricate a small amount of time (say, a decade) from the larger scale issues at play. When you say a "wide angle view," what perspective are you interested in? The growth of American Empire? The failures of reconstruction? Changing (and unchanging) racial and/or gender politics? Political shifts? Urbanization and industrialization? The myriad forms of resistence to middle-class progressivism? There are relatively few books (especially recent works) that would foreground specific years. I know it might seem somewhat basic and counter-intuitive, but Wikipedia entries and other shorter, generalized summaries of the period might be useful as a starting point to figure out what aspect of the period you're particularly interested in. From there, you will likely find a wide array of books on those topics (try a Google books search, for example). A good monograph should provide context as it makes its argument, hopefully allowing you a better understanding of the period in general as well as piquing your interest in a specific topic.