Repeopling Vermont: The Paradox of Development in the Twentieth Century

At the turn of the 20th century, state leaders believed Vermont's overwhelmingly rural character was both a distressing problem to be solved, and the state's greatest asset. All Vermonters wanted to preserve the things they saw as best about life in the state. All Vermonters wanted to embrace the changes they felt would improve their lives. The question of what and how to preserve, and what and how to embrace, was the challenge around which the state's twentieth-century history revolved. Not acting would result in the despoilment of Vermont's natural environment, its scenery, and its small-town character. But acting to save those things imperiled tradition in other ways. Paul Searls examines the large forces at work in this era by tracing two distinct but interrelated stories that illuminate the fundamental paradox that defined Vermont in the twentieth-century and continues to shape it in the twenty-first.

PRODUCT DETAILS:
Publisher: Vermont Historical Society
Author: Paul M. Searls
Format: Softcover
Number of Pages: 278
Number of Images: 19
Dimensions: 6 X 9 Inches (US)
Original publication year: 2019
ISBN: 9780934720700