I wonder what the voracious readers like Kirk could have done born thirty years later with lexu/nexus, google and the internet at their disposal in researching?
You know, sometimes I just wish I'd pick up a reference book now and then... lol! Actually, this stuff is all on my hard drive for research I'm doing on the 1912 election.
The downside of the web is that it is too easy, and it loosens the researchers backbone. My father, an attorney, will only use the case law databases if he already knows exactly what he's looking for. Otherwise he insists on thumbing the books because it always leads him places he never thought to go.
ohioWfan: I'd like to say there's a good, easy read for a modern conservative's understanding of the Progressive Era -- perhaps rdf's textbook would be a good place to start. I can't think of a single book out there that sees the period as I do, well, except my own... That's probably not a good sign. There are some really, really good books on the Progressive Era, but they're invetibly hinged leftward. Richard Hoftstadter's "Age of Reform" is probably the best, most removed look at the period. Hofstadter doesn't have an agenda, for the most part, although he's been accused of being unfair and mean to the agrarians and the populists, which I find hilarious. One of my favorite books on the progresives is Gabriel Kolko's "Triumph of Conservatism." Kolko is a leftwing nutjob who's complaint is that the progressives didn't go far enough into nationalism and collectivism. Perhaps x can recommend better reads.