Many books have been written on this period spanning roughly 1900-1920, so this modest essay is by no means comprehensive. It does hit some of the highlights, however, and enables the reader to perhaps see many similarities between the circumstances of this period and those of the present.

"Muckrakers"

President Teddy Roosevelt coined the term, but writers who were determined to expose some of the egregious conditions of the Industrial Revolution embraced the term "muckraker." There were many such writers, but most Americans have heard of Upton Sinclair who wrote the book The Jungle that exposed the conditions in the Chicago meat-packing industry. He would later co-write with his wife in the 1930s the book It Can Happen Here, that explored the rise of fascism in Europe and how it might look in the U.S.

Another "muckraker" writer, Lincoln Steffens, wrote about the corrupt machine politics so common in U.S. cities. Steffens focused specifically on St. Louis in his book Shame of the Cities, which explored the connections between business and the political structure of city government. Originally a series of articles published in McClure's magazine, Steffens argued that if honesty and principled motivation was more prevalent than business interests in governments, many of society's ills would be cured.