American Socialism and Social Biography

Abstract

The past decade has seen renaissance of scholarship on the Socialist Party. Several important biographies have appeared or are in the works, while community and regional studies have provided a much clearer picture of the party in action at the local level. Scholars have also analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of ism in the United States in relation to the issues of race and gender.1 Each of the books under review represents a different approach to the study of American ism. Philip Foner and Sally Miller have assembled an important source book for students and scholars in their collection of Kate Richards O'Hare's speeches and writings. Bernard Brommel's work is a traditional biography published by the same venerable Chicago house that produced many of Debs's own works. Nick Salva tore's study of Debs, winner of Columbia University's prestigious Bancroft Award, is an example of a new hybrid species? social biography?a mixture of the new history and scholarly biography. The Foner and Miller collection provides a valuable tool for teachers intro ducing students to the history of American radicalism. As a result of O'Hare's own broad interests and a judicious selection of documents, the book covers a broad range of issues from the point of view of an important woman leader of the Socialist Party.2 In their introduction Foner and Miller provide a brief overview of O'Hare's life and establish her ideological significance as an important link between the nineteenth century American reform tradition and the strong socialist movement of the early twentieth century. The documents are extensively annotated. The only flaw in the book's introduction is the curious assertion that the Socialist Party was based primarily on middle class, professional elements. While a comprehensive analysis of the party's base is still badly needed, this generali