Reformers Supplementary Topics

Students may elect one of the following options in lieu of the critical book review due on November 13.  Papers should be in the range of 5 to 10 pages (double-spaced, 12-point font). Deadline unchanged. The topics are in bold-face type.  The bullets provide guidance.

Option A

Discuss the various approaches to peace/pacifism among American reformers in the World War I era (roughly 1890s to 1920). Did any particular approach  (or combination of approaches) prove more effective than the others in winning public support and influencing policy after 1914? If so, how and why?

·         Consider the three approaches identified by Chambers in The Eagle and the Dove (page xxxiii) and the three orientations described by Gamble in The War For Righteousness (beginning on page 111). Are Chamber’s categories the same as Gamble’s, or not?

·         To what extent are these different approaches/orientations actually characteristic of individuals over time? (Do individuals combine elements of more than one position, and/or do some people change their minds over time?)  Gave examples of the positions advocated by selected individuals, drawing on either or both of these books.

·         Pay particular attention to changes in views after World War I began in August 1914.

·         Wherever possible, quote the actual words of key reformers, rather than rely on the statements made by Chambers or Gamble.

Option B

Evaluate the despairing cry of John Haynes Holmes at the start of World War I (Chambers, The Eagle and the Dove, Document 11).  Was he right? Or did reformers continue to pursue their ambitious goals despite or even because of the war?

·         Use both books (Chambers and Gamble) to identify key objectives of reformers in the period 1890 to 1914.  What did they seek, and how optimistic were they about getting it?

·         Did their goals, hopes, and/or strategies change after 1914? If so, how much, and how?  If not, why not?

·         Wherever possible, quote the actual words of key reformers, rather than rely on the statements made by Chambers or Gamble.

Option C

Evaluate Blake Berry’s claim, “Evil finds a new door every day,”[1] with respect to peace advocates included in Chamber’s anthology and Gamble’s book.  Would any of them have agreed with him before World War I?  Did the experience of the Great War bring any of them around to Blake’s point of view?  What might account for their consistency (if you find it) or a change of mind (if you discern it)?

·         Consult the bullets for “Option B” above, but confine your attention to issues of peace and war.