Against the Grain

Dynamic individuals, one man or one woman at a time, frequently have played a role in slowing or hastening the forces that make history. Prof. Underhill shows the personalities, strengths and weaknesses of six men whose momentous decisions helped shape society. High school and college students may have heard of Ignatius Donnelly, Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene Debs, Robert LaFollette, George Norris and Henry Agard Wallace; this informal history brings them to life and shows how they split from their friends and party affiliations to advocate ideas that seemed wild at the time but which later became accepted by mainstream America.