Even if you think America is already great, that doesn’t mean reforms are unnecessary, nor is it an effective argument against reformers such as Bernie Sanders. Watch this video for a historical perspective that includes 19th century industrialization and immigration, progressive era reforms, and the clean air act. On late nineteenth century conditions, Richard White, “Dying for Progress” in The Republic for Which it Stands: The United States During Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865-1896
On sanitation, Martin Melosi, The Sanitary City: Environmental Services in Urban America from Colonial Times to the Present
On public health and the decline in waterborne illnesses, Eric Rauchway, “Welfare” in Blessed Among Nations: How the World Made America
On municipalization and progressivism, Daniel Rodgers, “The Self-Owned City” in Atlantic Crossings: Social Politics in a Progressive Age
On the Clean Air Act, Beth Gardiner, “To Change a Nation: the Story of America’s Clean Air Act” in Choked: Life and Breath in the Age of Air Pollution.
Also on air regulation, David Vogel, “Protecting Air Quality,” in California Greenin’: How the Golden State Became an Environmental Leader
On environmental politics in an age of prosperity, Robert Weisbrot and G. Calvin Mackenzie, “To Protect the Planet,” in The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s
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