Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read.
Start by marking “La Follette's Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences” as Want to Read:
La Follette's Autobiography: A Personal Narrative of Political Experiences
Written in a clear, vigorous style, this account of Robert M. La Follette's political life and philosophy is not only a personal history, but in a large measure, a history of the Progressive cause throughout the United States. This is a book for every conscientious citizen. For, as Allan Nevins states in his Introduction, ". . . the battle La Follette led still goes on, an
...more
Paperback
,
366 pages
Published
November 15th 1960
by University of Wisconsin Press
(first published January 1st 1913)
Reader Q&A
To ask other readers questions about
La Follette's Autobiography
,
please sign up
.
Be the first to ask a question about La Follette's Autobiography
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
35)
A singular look at political life in the Progressive era, by one of that era's most notable figures.
The book recounts in detail La Follette's rise to political power, from district attorney of Dane County to Wisconsin Governor to the most outspoken man in the Senate. But La Follette, in classic civic republican fashion, states that he had no particular interest in political power at any point in this rise; that he was only following the dictates of his conscience and the call of the people. Of c ...more
The book recounts in detail La Follette's rise to political power, from district attorney of Dane County to Wisconsin Governor to the most outspoken man in the Senate. But La Follette, in classic civic republican fashion, states that he had no particular interest in political power at any point in this rise; that he was only following the dictates of his conscience and the call of the people. Of c ...more
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
“In the campaign of 1876,
Robert G. Ingersoll
came to Madison to speak. I had heard of him for years; when I was a boy on the farm a relative of ours had testified in a case in which
Ingersoll
had appeared as an attorney and he had told the glowing stories of the plea that
Ingersoll
had made. Then, in the spring of 1876,
Ingersoll
delivered the Memorial Day address at Indianapolis. It was widely published shortly after it was delivered and it startled and enthralled the whole country. I remember that it was printed on a poster as large as a door and hung in the post-office at Madison. I can scarcely convey now, or even understand, the emotional effect the reading of it produced upon me. Oblivious of my surroundings, I read it with tears streaming down my face. It began, I remember:
" The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great struggle for national life.We hear the sounds of preparation--the music of boisterous drums--the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see the pale cheeks of women and the flushed faces of men; and in those assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers... "
I was fairly entranced. he pictured the recruiting of the troops, the husbands and fathers with their families on the last evening, the lover under the trees and the stars; then the beat of drums, the waving flags, the marching away; the wife at the turn of the lane holds her baby aloft in her arms--a wave of the hand and he has gone; then you see him again in the heat of the charge. It was wonderful how it seized upon my youthful imagination.
When he came to Madison I crowded myself into the assembly chamber to hear him: I would not have missed it for every worldly thing I possessed. And he did not disappoint me.
A large handsome man of perfect build, with a face as round as a child's and a compelling smile--all the arts of the old-time oratory were his in high degree. He was witty, he was droll, he was eloquent: he was as full of sentiment as an old violin. Often, while speaking, he would pause, break into a smile, and the audience, in anticipation of what was to come, would follow him in irresistible peals of laughter. I cannot remember much that he said, but the impression he made upon me was indelible.
After that I got Ingersoll 's books and never afterward lost an opportunity to hear him speak. He was the greatest orater, I think, that I have ever heard; and the greatest of his lectures, I have always thought, was the one on Shakespeare .
Ingersoll had a tremendous influence upon me, as indeed he had upon many young men of that time. It was not that he changed my beliefs, but that he liberated my mind. Freedom was what he preached: he wanted the shackles off everywhere. He wanted men to think boldly about all things: he demanded intellectual and moral courage. He wanted men to follow wherever truth might lead them. He was a rare, bold, heroic figure .”
—
3 likes
More quotes…
" The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are in the great struggle for national life.We hear the sounds of preparation--the music of boisterous drums--the silver voices of heroic bugles. We see the pale cheeks of women and the flushed faces of men; and in those assemblages we see all the dead whose dust we have covered with flowers... "
I was fairly entranced. he pictured the recruiting of the troops, the husbands and fathers with their families on the last evening, the lover under the trees and the stars; then the beat of drums, the waving flags, the marching away; the wife at the turn of the lane holds her baby aloft in her arms--a wave of the hand and he has gone; then you see him again in the heat of the charge. It was wonderful how it seized upon my youthful imagination.
When he came to Madison I crowded myself into the assembly chamber to hear him: I would not have missed it for every worldly thing I possessed. And he did not disappoint me.
A large handsome man of perfect build, with a face as round as a child's and a compelling smile--all the arts of the old-time oratory were his in high degree. He was witty, he was droll, he was eloquent: he was as full of sentiment as an old violin. Often, while speaking, he would pause, break into a smile, and the audience, in anticipation of what was to come, would follow him in irresistible peals of laughter. I cannot remember much that he said, but the impression he made upon me was indelible.
After that I got Ingersoll 's books and never afterward lost an opportunity to hear him speak. He was the greatest orater, I think, that I have ever heard; and the greatest of his lectures, I have always thought, was the one on Shakespeare .
Ingersoll had a tremendous influence upon me, as indeed he had upon many young men of that time. It was not that he changed my beliefs, but that he liberated my mind. Freedom was what he preached: he wanted the shackles off everywhere. He wanted men to think boldly about all things: he demanded intellectual and moral courage. He wanted men to follow wherever truth might lead them. He was a rare, bold, heroic figure .”
