The Age of Charisma: Leaders, Followers, and Emotions in American Society, 1870-1940

358 Pages·2016·8.56 MB·English

by  Jeremy C. Young

“With The Age of Charisma, Jeremy Young offers a richly suggestive, Y
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original, often brilliant and compelling history of how charisma stood at
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the center of American political culture from the 1880s to 1940. Fluidly
written and wonderfully researched, it makes a significant contribution to
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our understanding of America’s past. The scholarship is immensely sound,
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and I know of no book that comes close to contributing what Young does.”
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Daniel Horowitz, Smith College, and author of On the Cusp: Yale College g The Age of Charisma
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Class of 1960 and a World on the Verge of Change

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C Leaders, Followers, and Emotions
“This important book offers an innovative analysis and interpretation of
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many of the main intellectual, social, political, and religious currents of a
in American Society, 1870–1940
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the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. By providing such a clear, persuasive, i
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and direct analytical framework, Young contributes new insights to what
a Jeremy C. Young
we know of the era, identifies some of the key agents of progressive change,
and offers a clear and persuasive argument. The research behind this book
is excellent and Young’s writing is clear and succinct. In sum, this is an
excellent book.”
Matthew Avery Sutton, author of American Apocalypse: A History of
Modern Evangelicalism
Jeremy C. Young is an assistant professor of history at Dixie State
University.
Printed in the United Kingdom Cover image: (((to come)))

TheAgeofCharisma
An innovative examination of American society, culture, and politics,
The Age of Charisma argues that the modern relationship between
American leaders and followers grew out of a unique group of
charismatic social movements prominent in the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. Drawing on hundreds of letters and
testimonials, Jeremy C. Young illustrates how “personal magnetism”
inpublicspeakingshapedsocietybyenablingashiftfromemotionally
inaccessible leadership to emotionally available leadership. This
charismatic speaking style caused a rapid transformation in the
leader–follower relationship, creating an emotional link between
speakers and listeners, and the effects of this social transformation
remain with us today. Young argues that, ultimately, charismatic
movements enhanced American democracy by encouraging the
personalization of leadership – creating a culture in which today’s
leadersappealdirectlytoAmericansthroughmassmedia.
Jeremy C. Young is an assistant professor of history at Dixie State
University.

The Age of Charisma
Leaders, Followers, and Emotions in American
1870–1940
Society,
JEREMY C. YOUNG
DixieStateUniversity
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Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107114623
10.1017/9781316335369
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Contents
ListofIllustrations pageviii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xii
1 MagneticAmerica:PersonalMagnetisminAmericanCulture,
1870–1900 1
2 CommandPerformances:LeadersandTheirTechnologies,
1890–1910 40
3 Transformations:TheFollowerExperience,1890–1920 93
4 CompetingVisions:ImaginingCharismaandSocialChange,
1890–1910 138
5 ChangingSociety:TheRiseandFallofProgressiveCharisma,
1910–1920 175
6 EndofanAge:FromMagnetismtoMassCommunication,
1920–1940 220
Conclusion 273
Bibliography 282
Index 314
vii
Illustrations
1.1 MossEngravingCo.,“TheManofManyMoods,”1904 page17
1.2 ThomasNast,“The‘Magnetic’Blaine,”1880 35
2.1 AnnaClaypoolePeale,JamesRush,1829 45
2.2 JamesRush,“FirstOutlineofThePhilosophyoftheHuman
Voice,”1827 47
2.3 JonathanBarber,APracticalTreatiseonGesture,1831 50
2.4 JonathanBarber,APracticalTreatiseonGesture,1831,
andWilliamJenningsBryan,1908 52
3.1 GeorgeBellows,BillySunday,1923 107
3.2 GeorgeBellows,TheSawdustTrail,1915 118
3.3 WilliamJenningsBryan,1906 126
4.1 EugeneV.Debs,1912 170
5.1 TheodoreRoosevelt,1902 183
5.2 WoodrowWilson,1919 215
6.1 MarcusGarvey,1920 250
6.2 AimeeSempleMcPherson,1931 254
6.3 BurrisJenkins,Jr.,“Champions!,”1934 263
viii