A
socioeconomic, political, and cultural analysis of the United States during the period between the end of
Reconstruction and the
Progressive Era, Wiebe's work describes American society and how the introduction of new scientific and technological advancements changed the ways in which citizens connected with the larger country outside of their local communities as well as how they perceived themselves in an increasingly national sense. These changes led to new ideologies that embraced
utopian ideals and the belief that through impersonal, federal authority the ills society was experiencing from the rapid urban-industrialization of the
Gilded Age could be tamed, quelled, or used to create a better future and society. Wiebe analyzes the appearance and life of the
Populist party and its appeal to the rural parts of the country as well as the hopes for the party, which would be reproduced in the ensuing Progressive movement of the early twentieth century. The result would be a transition from "a society of island communities" held together by local autonomy to the development of "America's initial experiment in bureaucratic order," primarily driven by the emerging, new middle class that was created through the advancements. ==Reception==