For the Common Good?: American Civic Life and the Golden Age of Fraternity

by Jason Kaufman

Book Overview

The Golden Age of Fraternity was a unique time in American history. In the forty years between the Civil War and the onset of World War I, more than half of all Americans participated in clubs, fraternities, militias, and mutual benefit societies. Today this period is held up as a model for how we might revitalize contemporary civil society. But was America's associational culture really as communal as has been assumed? What if these much-admired...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195148576
• ISBN13: 9780195148572
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 9.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Original, even radical--and also convincing

This book is a radical reinterpretation of the role of certain types of voluntary associations in American civil society. It first reviews the history of fraternal orders and secret societies in the 19th century and then expands its focus to other, related types of voluntary organization. Overall, I found it a convincing and eye-opening account of the roles of self-interest and organizational competition in the non-profit sector. The author makes some claims about the desirability of non-profits that you may not agree with, but he at least sheds revealing new light on a subject otherwise treated with kid gloves.