Insurgent Democracy

Synopsis

The Farmer-led Insurgency Known As The Nonpartisan League Thrived Between 1915 And 1924, Going So Far As To Take Control Of The North Dakota State Legislature. Challenging Entrenched Political And Corporate Interests In America And Canada Alike, The League And Its Grassroots Populism Had Particular Influence In The West. League Leaders Developed Local Communal Financial And Industrial Institutions, While Resisting National And International Speculators And Investors. Michael Lansing Shows That The League Was Not A Spasm Of Populist Rage That Burned Itself Out, Nor Is It A Historical Footnote. Rather, It Is An Instructive And Even Cautionary Exemplar Of How Populist Movements Take Shape Under Particular Social Conditions And Across Specific Geographies, How They Increase Their Influence, And How They Die Out. These Are Vital Topics Today, Given The Prominence Of Populist And Pseudo-populist Movements. Lansing Shows That The League Was Responding Less To Government Policies Than To Economic Threats And Transformations, Much As Today's Movements Do.