Reviews for Final Frontiers, 1880-1930, Vol. 183

The average rating for Final Frontiers, 1880-1930, Vol. 183 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-04-22 00:00:00 Veronica Urrego An interesting look at the early years of the FDA, the Bureau of Public Roads, and the Children's Bureau, focusing on the federal to state "grants-in-aid" that allowed these bureaucracies to carry out much of their work. Johnson shows that while we often think of the Progressive era as centralizing power and command in the federal government, much of the bureaucratic changes in this period were actually based on enticing states to carry out Progressive plans through subsidies and matching (fifty-fifty) grants. This was done partially to placate powerful state legislators (where most of Congress originated) and partially to avoid federal courts' attacks against direct federal government control. Overall a great work, but her thesis about the institutionalization of Congress (increased tenures and larger staffs) being essential to this transformation is contradicted by her own regressions.

Review # 2 was written on 2016-03-04 00:00:00 Michael Walsh Author effectively argues that the period from 1877 through the Progressive period, rather than the New Deal, changed the relationship between the national government and the states. She uses Pure Food and Drug Act, the Highway Act of 1916, and the Shephard-Towner Act to support her argument.