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Gene Clanton's Populist Studies Page
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Review excerpts
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Kansas Populism: Ideas and Men (Lawrence & London: University Press of Kansas, 1969).
John D. Hicks: "It is always a relief to find a writer of history who is willing to explore the sources
fully and then let them guide him in his interpretation. Too many books today that pretend to be history seek
out only the facts that will support some preconceived theory and ignore all the rest. ... On the whole this is an admirable
book and a notable contribution to the understanding of Populism."
Pacific Northwest Quarterly.
Joseph Gambone: "This scholarly volume is the first comprehensive history of the Kansas People's Party.
Using the foundations of Kansas Populism as constructed by Raymond Miller, Walter Nugent, and James Malin, Clanton analyzes
the interaction of politics and ideas within the leadership of Kansas Populism, and places it in its proper historical context.
... Kansas Populism is a balanced and valuable contribution to the expanding Populist historiography and is
assured a significant place in the historical literature of Kansas and of Populism."
Mid-America.
Walter T.K. Nugent: "Clanton assesses Kansas Populism as a 'constructive response' to technological
change, but a 'premature' one which, by appearing as part of temporary agrarian problem,'stigmatized [its leaders] by the
association" with that problem. Its 'greatest bequest,' therefore, was 'a positive educational experience' in breaking
down ideological resistance to their reforms and to reform in general. ... The book is well done, balanced, and
informative, and will become part of the standard bibliography on Populism."
Journal of American History
Norman Pollack: "This is a significant political-narrative account of Kansas Populism, providing
an overview of the movement's course, useful background sketches of the leaders, and a composite statement of their demographic
characteristics. ... Under close inspection, Populists may not appear the radicals one once thought, but the established
major parties' opposition appears a good deal more authoritarian than one ever suspected."
Western Historical Quarterly
Peter H. Argersinger: "A clear picture of Populism emerges from Clanton's work: a progressive,
generally realistic movement, led for the most part by sensitive, sincere men of varying ability and personality, who
attempted to come to grips with the new industrial societey of late nineteenth-century America. While objectively revealing
Populism's less appealing side, Clanton provides a correction of many of the distortions of those historians of the 1950's
who took Populism on their own rather than its terms. ... The research is impressive and the notes are so splendid
that the annotation may prove as valuable as the text itself. ... Professor Clanton's study is a welcome synthesis...."
Wisconsin Magazine of History
Robert F. Durden: "Kansas Populism is a detailed, chronological examination of Populism its
Midwestern center. Although it incidentally substantiates the work of Walter T.K. Nugent in absolving the agrarians
from the charges of nativism and anti-Semitism, Clanton's book is both broader in its scope and more conventional as a history
of Kansas Populism, with special attention to its leadership."
American Historical Review
___________
Populism: The Humane Preference in America, 1890-1900 (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991)
Walter
Nugent: "Clanton restores the word Populism to its proper, specific, and inspiring meaning. Here is a brief, accurate,
rousing new history of Populism--the people's party of the 1890s--in all its antiracist, anti-imperialist, humane dimensions."
Robert W. Larson: "A brilliant synthesis. ... Gene Clanton convincingly
demonstrates that Populism was a positive force in American history. Rich in detail, this study is as successful in
revealing the movement's impact on the nation's political process as it is in tracing the roots of its origin."
Michael J. Brodhead: "Here is a wonderful union of sound scholarship, penetrating analysis, and passion.
Anyone wanting to understand Populism should turn to this work first."
Scott McNall: "Clanton has provided a timely and lively overview of America's greatest mass-democratic
movement."
Robert W. Cherny: "This is the best treatment of the entire topic of Populism since John D. Hicks's
Populist Revolt (1931)."
Worth Robert Miller: "This is a well-argued study with a solid thesis and refreshing balance in its
treatment of the diversity within the third party. Clanton's contribution is in synthesizing the pertinent secondary
materials with his well-known primary research on Kansas and the Populists in the U.S. Congress. The result is a readable
and enlightening monograph that deserves the widest readership."
Robert C. McMath: "Clanton is at his best in analyzing Populism in Kansas and in Congress. The
former reminds us of his valuable contributions to scholarship over the years, and the latter stirs anticipation for his forthcoming
study of congressional Populism."
William F. Holmes: "An able study that offers students an alternative to the larger works of Hicks
and Goodwyn. A scholar who knows his subject intimately and who has thought long and critically about it, Clanton has
written a concise and insightful history of Populism."
Karel D. Bicha: "This succinct volume is the first broad-based survey of the subject to appear in
more than a decade. ... Gene Clanton has produced a book written with the passion of a Populist insider. One must conclude
that he is a Populist, one of the last of the species."
Richard Jensen: "Clanton's essay reminds America of its roots in democracy and republicanism, as did
the Populist stemwinders he admires so unblushingly."
Robert S. LaForte: "The reader may disagree with the book's general interpretation, but he or she
will not be bored by it. Clanton has always written in a clear, engrossing manner, and this book is no exception."
______________
Congressional Populism and the Crisis of the 1890s (Lawrence: University Press of Kansas,
1998)
Walter Nugent: "Clanton is exceptionally well qualified to write the
first serious history of the 1890s Populists--the real Populists--in Congress. He also tell the truth: that what's
often called 'populism' these days is 180 degrees to the right of the real thing."
Michael J. Brodhead: "Gene Clanton;'s study of the congressmen elected on the People's (Populist)
party tickets will not disappoint those who have awaited its appearance. It meets the high standards of scholarship
set by his other writings on Populism. ... Instead of continuing to bandy the word [populist] about so indiscriminately,
journalists, political scientists, and historians should study the works of Gene Clanton and other able scholars of the movement."
Robert W. Larson: "This volume is 'must' reading for students of Populism; its three appendixes alone,
naming and profiling all fifty Populist congressmen, make it a mandatory addition to any good library on political reform."
David A. Jones: "...Clanton has made a significant contribution to the history of American Populism.
... Readers interested in American political history will enjoy this lively and insightful foray into this often maligned
and misunderstood group of democratic agitators."
William F. Holmes: "Until the appearance of Gene Clanton's new book, no one had studied the fifty
men who represented the People's Party in Congress. ... Without Clanton's careful work, one could misunderstand the
congressional Populists. ... By addressing a previously neglected aspect of Populism, this book advances understanding
of the movement. ... Clanton's book increases awareness of what the People's party and its leaders represented."
Robert W. Cherny: "Gene Clanton ... has spent much of his scholarly career studying Populism, and
his long-awaited study of congressional Populism contributes significantly to our understanding of that party. ...
His conclusions contradict many of the views of Richard Hofstadter and Michael Kazin regarding a populist 'style,' and dispute
Lawerence Goodwyn's argument that Senators William V. Allen (Nebraska) and Marion Butler (North Carolina) were Populists 'in
name only.'"
James L. Hunt: "It should not have taken one hundred years for a scholar to write a solid history
of the Populists in Congress. Fortunately, however, Gene Clanton has finally accomplished the task. ...
Clanton's work demonstrates the costs of ignoring the congressional Populists. ... Congress was the only place
where Populists represented their party on a national level. Clanton makes it clear that Populism was ably represented
in Washington [D.C.] and by doing so, he sharpens historians' understanding of the purposes and potential of the party."
Mark Voss-Hubbard: "The book is engagingly written, replete with telling anecdotes about colorful
Populist personalities. Clanton advances our understanding of Populism on the national stage in several areas.
Especially useful are his discussions of the movement's stances on foreign policy and immigration restriction."
Kenneth J. Winkle: "In celebrating Populism as a grassroots, agrarian revolt championed by political
outsiders, historians have either neglected or discounted the importance of the Populists who served in Congress, granting
electoral politics precedence over the legislative arena. Gene Clanton's engaging study corrects this oversight. ...
Extending the argument of his previous book, Populism: The Humane Preference in America, 1890-1900, Clanton
challenges the image of Populism as merely an agrarian crusade with strictly economic goals and portrays Populists more broadly
as champions of human rights. ...this groundbreaking portrait of [the] congressional Populists is an absorbing
narrative depiction of an embattled legislative minority during one of America's most tumultuous decades."
Karel D. Bicha: "This is a magnificent source book for political commentary in the 1890s.
Clanton performed the spadework diligently."
Bonnie Lynn-Sherow: "This is a careful study that purposefully blends the words of these unusual politicians
with their personal histories. The result is a detailed and textured look at a generation that felt the promise of the
American experiment was in jeopardy. ... Certainly Clanton has produced a worderful compilation of an important
group of politicians and intellectuals who were uncannily prescient about the nature of capital and labor in the twentieth
century. As William Allen White commented in 1906, 'the Populists had the germ of a great truth ... but they were too
early in the season and got frost bitten." It is hoped that Clanton's revival of congressional Populism is not also
too early for historians to appreciate."
Merle Kunz: "Clanton brings to the readers' attention again and again the notion that agrarian populism
[sic] of the late 19th century differs in substance, form, and theory from populism espoused by today's politicians.
Perhaps that should be the basis of his next book."
Stanley Parson: This "study provides a new and welcome dimension to the understanding of the Populist
political revolt of the late nineteenth century. ... Clanton attacks his problem in a methodical and scholarly
fashion."
Fred Nielsen: "This is a valuable exploration of a neglected topic."
Sheldon Hackney: "Gene Clanton has devoted his long and productive career as a scholar to understanding
Populism and its context. We are in his debt for that and for this rich study of a neglected subject: what the
Populists said and how they voted in Congress during the crisis of the 1890s. ... Clanton is a significant figure
in the proud tradition of progressive hsitorians sympathetic to Populism that leads from Vernon Louis Parrington and John
D. Hicks through C. Vann Woodward and Lawrence Goodwyn. ... Throughout his energetic analysis of Populist rhetoric
recorded in the Congressional Record for the six Congresses following the election of 1890, Clanton is intent on
demonstrating that, although the Populists in Congress may have been dissidents and from relatively humble origins, they were
not the ignorant bumpkins caricatured by their major party opponents and mainstream newspapers, nor were they Richard Hofstadter's
nostalgic hayseeds employing a paranoid style of politics, and they were certainly not the antecedents of those McCarthy-Goldwater-Reagan
right wing reactionaries who are frequently misidentified as Populists. In all of this, the author is absolutely correct."
The comments above were of course selected by Gene Clanton for their positive value & the reader/researcher
should refer to the complete reviews for more critical observations.
____________________________________ A Common Humanity: Kansas Populism and the Battle for Justice and Equality 1854-1903 (Sunflower University Press 2004) SUP has discontinued business as of Nov. 1, 2004. The paperback can be purchased by contacting amazon.com, or by contacting the author directly. Despite their difficulties, the people at SUP have done a splendid job of producing A Common Humanity; they have my sincere appreciation & eternal gratitude. I'm also told they were pleased to have this volume be their final production.
Released in September 2004 almost at the same time Sunflower University Press closed its doors, this work has taken a bit longer than usual to launch. That is now about to change. It is, of course, a bit early to post comments from reviews but several entries are pertinent. ___________
Paul T. Vogel, The Midwest Book Review, October 2004. A COMMON HUMANITY "is a welcome contribution to American and Kansas political studies.... An extensively researched focus upon a Kansas political movement, yet written in terms accessible to general readers." ____________
Virgil W. Dean, editor Kansas History, November 16, 2004. Gene Clanton's "contribution to our understanding of Populism and all its implications has been immeasurable and much appreciated here in Kansas (and elsewhere) over the years." _________ David C. Flaherty, editor emeritus, Washington State University, 12/10/04. "Readers of Thomas Frank's current bestseller, What's the Matter With Kansas: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, would do well to add O. Gene Clanton's A Common Humanity: Kansas Populism and the Battle for Justice and Equality 1854-1903 to their personal library. In a well-researched and written volume, Clanton adds the human interest details of how early Kansas agrarians struggled in the last half of the 19th century to overcome the burdens of industrial monopolies and credit shortages. Clanton, like Frank a Kansas native, points out that although the Populist--or more correctly the People's--Party withered away with the coming of the new century, its adherents' educational efforts laid the groundwork for the later successes of more potent and progressive reform efforts." __________ Lewis L. Gould, Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin, 6 Jan. 05, as posted on Amazon.com. "This fascinating book represents Gene Clanton's matured historical wisdom about the importance of Populism in Kansas during the Gilded Age. From Sockless Jerry Simpson to the Wizard of Oz, Clanton illuminates the significant story of agrarian discontent in this crucial state along with the leaders and issues that made the subject so interesting and controversial. Clanton's work also provides key background for understanding modern American politics." _____________ Rebecca Edwards, Associate Professor, Vassar College, Kansas History (Spring 200, 500+words): "Professor Clanton tells this story well. Through extensive quotes from speeches, letters, and editorials, he makes the era' politics come alive. ... Clanton re-creates an era when oratory was a popular entertainment, and he shows that Populists gave as good as they got."
James P. McGowan, in a Pacific Northwest Quarterly review, Summer 2005, wrote this: "A lively, gritty, and sympathetic chronicle of Populist leaders in Kansas and the wave of exuberance they road to statewide electoral successes in the 1890s.... Not exactly an apologist, Clanton nevertheless shares the Populist taste for regulation and statist humanism and peppers his work with barbs aimed at the Right." "Students of of Populism will find much of value here. Clanton is conversant with the leadership and politics of Kansas agricultural activism and diligently discusses the historiography in the notes."
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