1877
An important reason to read history is to gain a perspective on current events. If you watch exclusively mainstream media television, particularly Fox News, you might be forgiven for the belief that things in this country are the worst they have ever been in history. “1877: America’s Year of Living Violently” by Michael Bellisiles is one effective antidote to that impression. The panic of 1873, when a post-Civil War speculative bubble burst, launched a depression that lasted until 1879. By Christmas of 1876, whatever centennial spirit there was had mostly dissipated. The litany of complaints would be familiar to viewers of Fox News today: “In Chicago, the journalist Mark “Brick” Pomeroy, a man not known for temperate behavior, published a laundry list of disasters facing the nation: the political parties were “manipulating” election returns, the nation “is filling up with tramps,” “bankruptcies are the order of the day,” the people elsewhere afraid to defend their rights, the prison...