A life in progress: motion and emotion in the autobiography of Robert M. La Follette

Scroop, D. (2012) A life in progress: motion and emotion in the autobiography of Robert M. La Follette. American Nineteenth Century History, 13(1), pp. 45-64. (doi: 10.1080/14664658.2012.681944)

Abstract

This article is a study of a La Follette’s Autobiography, the autobiography of the leading Wisconsin progressive Robert M. La Follette, which was published serially in 1911 and, in book form, in 1913. Rather than focusing, as have other historians, on which parts of La Follette’s account are accurate and can therefore be trusted, it explains instead why and how this major autobiography was conceived and written. The article shows that the autobiography was the product of a sustained, complex, and often fraught series of collaborations among La Follette’s family, friends, and political allies, and in the process illuminates the importance of affective ties as well as political ambition and commitment in bringing the project to fruition. In the world of progressive reform, it argues, personal and political experiences were inseparable.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This is an Author's Original Manuscript of an article whose final and definitive form, the Version of Record, has been published in American Nineteenth Century History, Copyright © 2012 Taylor & Francis available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14664658.2012.681944
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Scroop, Dr Daniel
• Authors: Scroop, D.
• Subjects: F History United States, Canada, Latin America > F001 United States local history
• College/School: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities > History
• Journal Name: American Nineteenth Century History
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• ISSN: 1466-4658
• Published Online: 29 June 2012
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2012 Taylor & Francis
• First Published: First published in American Nineteenth Century History 13(1):45-64
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced with the permission of the publisher