LAWS THAT CHANGED AMERICA

by Jules Archer ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 1967

...being an inventory of the legislative acts purportedly responsible for various aspects of American development. Two-thirds of this is cursory information forced into a predetermined format, but the balance may be worth your attention. To claim that the first Federal Bank Act, the Sixteenth Amendment (permitting the levying of an income tax), the Federal Reserve Act (creating a flexible currency) and the Glass-Steagall Act (insuring deposits) ""made us prosper"" is ipso facto ridiculous and obscures what it intends to reveal--the interdependence of economics and the political process; further, the chapter as a whole is too condensed, the information too abstracted from the context of history, to be useful. Likewise the sections bearing on American expansion, guarantee of rights, foreign policy, conservation, and civil rights--and much of this material is widely available elsewhere. The balance is both fuller and less frequently assembled: laws pertaining to labor, to health, education and welfare, and to the farmer. There's a candid, comprehensive discussion of temperance and prohibition and (under ""red-white-and-blue laws"") an extensive summary of the loyalty Syndrome from the first repressive acts (and the limitation of immigration) to the McCarthy era. A chronological table of contents serves as the index; it runs for five pages and lists all the laws mentioned (though it will take a lot of looking to find one if you don't already know its context). This, then, can be used to get a line on a particular law, but it is chiefly aimed at opening up whole areas; sometimes it succeeds, sometimes not.

Pub Date: May 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Criterion

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1967

Categories: NONFICTION