Gerald Leinwand Bryan Biography All Books sku-33939874

Gerald Leinwand's hardcover William Jennings Bryan: An Uncertain Trumpet is listed in All Books under SKU sku-33939874. Bryan died in 1925. Henry Steele Commager called him "the most representative American of his time."

Leinwand examines Bryan's character and political, spiritual and intellectual development amid the United States' shift from regional and rural life toward national institutions and urban life. A Christian fundamentalist and populist, Bryan drew on Protestant revivalism and Jacksonian democracy.

He opposed the gold standard and supported women's suffrage, direct election of U.S. senators and government regulation of railroads. The book covers his presidential campaigns, his dispute with Clarence Darrow over human evolution, his devoted followers and political opponents, and the tensions in his views and record as a reformer.

An epilogue discusses the scholarly question of whether The Wizard of Oz allegorizes Bryan's failed campaign for silver.