Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro
Appears to be a very interesting read. However, it also appears much of it deals with Europe rather than the USA. The library has a couple of copies and I'll give it a look.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is largely European from what I can tell, although we have had our share of anarchists, spies, and Pinkertons, too. Like labor and other social-justice issues, these bigger picture questions tend to transcend national boundaries.
ReplyDeleteThere was another book on anarchism that I enjoyed sometime back called Demanding the Impossible,
ReplyDeletehttp://books.google.lt/books?id=QDWIOL_KtGYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=demanding+the+impossible&source=bl&ots=2iNuPNSqur&sig=x5ppy2IWlMcZfVf0zpYLgA-r3IE&hl=lt&ei=3f3pTNm2EY2VOu_53MoK&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false
It was quite exhaustive and even included a section on anarcho-capitalism and the policies of Reagan and other Right Wing leaders.
Also worth noting is Homage to Catalonia, in which Orwell tells of the promising but all too short anarchism experiment in Barcelona.
ReplyDeleteMore specifically,
ReplyDeleteAnarchism in America,
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/anarchism-in-america/
What I think _may_ be of interest is his contrasting the methods of the Pinkertons et al. with those they were allegedly protecting the country from. But I haven't read this one yet, so not sure.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the film link, Gintaras. Another one for these long winter nights -- we're in a blizzard situation up here now, so it's time to start watching movies again.
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