Reform, it seems, is irreducible to a single, climactic event, speech, or court case. Instead, it is an extended process—a journey that twists, turns, starts, and stops, as though it were an animate object that defies control by a single individual. Our reformers were riders on an unruly horse, normally expending as much energy to hang on as to direct where, or how fast, the animal was going. While they achieved substantial results, success was never a sure thing. Not only was there no common formula for reform, they were more often the symbols of a cause than the doers of change.
