Presidents from Hayes through McKinley, 1877-1901: Debating the Issues in Pro and Con Primary Documents

President's Position, Debating the Issues #4

by Amy H. Sturgis

This resource of primary documents and commentary spans the Hayes and McKinley administrations, selecting and describing five to ten of the foremost issues of the day. The actual texts of the presidents' positions, along with the opposing viewpoints, are presented. Helpful background information and commentary clarifies the primary sources, accurately depicting this dynamic time in the country's past and providing an invaluable resource to any student of American history.

The period from 1877 to 1901 marked the end of one United States-a country still reeling from the Civil War, a divided nation of Reconstruction, a land of economic depression, sectional hostility, and governmental corruption. A new United States was emerging. It was an empire, an international power that both negotiated with and fought against European nations with great success, and a country with a rebounding economy, vigorous industry, and restored faith. During this Gilded Age, the nation expanded as settlers moved west and displaced native populations. Immigrants entered at the highest rate in the country's history. Geographic expansion gave rise to mighty railroads, and industrial expansion brought corporations, company towns, and monopolies. This unprecedented industrialism bolstered urban growth, yet economic hardships afflicted rural countrysides. Labor and agrarian interests organized.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Amy H. Sturgis earned her Ph.D. in Intellectual History from Vanderbilt University. Her work focuses on the intellectual history of speculative fiction.

Sturgis teaches at Signum University. She is author of four books as well as more than sixty scholarly and mainstream essays on historical and speculative fiction topics. She has edited or co-edited ten books. In 2006, Sturgis was honored with the Imperishable Flame Award for Achievement in Tolkien/Inklings Scholarship. In 2015, the L.A. Press Club named her Reason article "Not Your Parents' Dystopias: Millennial Fondness for Worlds Gone Wrong" the "Best Magazine Review/Criticism/Column" in the 57th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards.

Dubbed "The Neil deGrasse Tyson of Science Fiction" by The Drabblecast podcast in 2014, Sturgis also contributes regular "Looking Back on Genre History" segments to and narrates contemporary science fiction stories for the U.K.-based podcast StarShipSofa. In both 2009 and 2011, she was honored with The Sofanaut Award for her podcasting work. In 2010, StarShipSofa became the first podcast ever to win a Hugo Award. Sturgis also has made guest appearances on more than a dozen other podcasts in the field.

With well over 200 presentations to her credit, Sturgis frequently speaks at colleges, conferences, and genre conventions across North America and Europe. Along with her husband, Dr. Larry M. Hall, Sturgis lives in the Appalachian highlands of Virginia.

Her Goodreads reviews cover only the books she has read since joining the Goodreads community in July 2010.