1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910450957803321

Autore

Rieser Andrew Chamberlin

Titolo

The Chautauqua moment [[electronic resource] ] : Protestants, progressives, and the culture of modern liberalism / / Andrew C. Rieser

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New York, : Columbia University Press, 2003

ISBN

0-231-50113-7

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (417 p.)

Collana

Religion and American Culture

Disciplina

374/.973

Soggetti

Chautauquas - United States - History

Protestant churches - Education - United States - History

Middle class - Education - United States - History

Electronic books.

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Chautauqua's Liberal Creed -- 1. An American Forum: Methodist Camp Meetings and the Rise of Social Christianity -- 2. The Never-ending Vacation: Boosters, Tourists, and the Fantasyscape of Chautauqua -- 3. Canopy of Culture: Democracy under the Big Tent of Prosperity -- 4. The Liberalism of Whiteness: Webs of Region, Race, and Nationalism in the Chautauqua Movement -- 5. From Parlor to Politics: Chautauqua and the Institutionalization of Middle-Class Womanhood -- 6. Useful Knowledge and Its Critics: The Messiness of Popular Education in the 1890s -- 7. Success through Failure: Chautauqua in the Progressive Era -- Conclusion: Failure Through Success? -- Appendixes -- Abbreviations -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

This book traces the rise and decline of what Theodore Roosevelt once called the "most American thing in America." The Chautauqua movement began in 1874 on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in western New York. More than a college or a summer resort or a religious assembly, it was a composite of all of these-completely derivative yet brilliantly innovative. For five decades, Chautauqua dominated adult education and reached millions with its summer assemblies, reading clubs, and traveling circuits.Scholars have long struggled to make



sense of Chautauqua's pervasive yet disorganized presence in American life. In this critical study, Andrew Rieser weaves the threads of Chautauqua into a single story and places it at the vital center of fin de siècle cultural and political history. Famous for its commitment to democracy, women's rights, and social justice, Chautauqua was nonetheless blind to issues of class and race. How could something that trumpeted democracy be so undemocratic in practice? The answer, Rieser argues, lies in the historical experience of the white, Protestant middle classes, who struggled to reconcile their parochial interests with radically new ideas about social progress and the state. The Chautauqua Moment brings color to a colorless demographic and spins a fascinating tale of modern liberalism's ambivalent but enduring cultural legacy.