Freedom's Ferment: Phases of American Social History from the Colonial Period to the Outbreak of the Civil War

by Alice Felt Tyler

Book Overview

In its first half century the United States was visited by scores of curious European travellers who came to investigate the strange new world that was being created in the Western Hemisphere. In... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061310743
• ISBN13: 9780061310744
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Length: 608 Pages
• Weight: 1.34 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Only Comprehensive Study of Antebellum Reform

Alice Felt Tyler's classic is the only comprehensive treatment of antebellum reform. While many more recent monographs shed new light on the topic, Tyler's lengthy work remains highly valuable for the student of the period. Her work is better at describing antebellum reform than explaining it. Correctly acknowledging the importance of evangelical religion, perfectionism, free will, and republicanism, Tyler overemphasizes the importance of the frontier (clearly influenced by Turner's thesis) and tends to promote the idea that antebellum reform was inevitable. Yet even though she fails to establish the underlying explanation for freedom's ferment, Tyler does succeed in sheer descriptive merit. Her work discusses every conceivable reform and clearly reveals connections to European reform. Her bibliography is extensive and useful to researchers. I recommend this work to any student of antebellum reform; however, readers looking for a shorter introduction to the topic may want to try Ronald Walter's American Reformers.