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Holy Joe: Joseph W Folk and the Missouri Idea. By Steven L. Piott. (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997. xiv, 208 pp. $34.95, IsBN 0-8262-1130-5.)
Progressive Era political history is important because of fundamental changes in the political system and public policy, but it is made more interesting by the character of many of its political leaders. Combative, dramatic, ambitious, and self-confident, they portrayed themselves as fighting heroic struggles, leading the people against the forces of evil. Steven L. Piott's study of the political career of Joseph Folk of Missouri retains a sense of that drama, combining a useful discussion of Folk's ideas with some consideration of his limitations and significance.
Spending little time on Folk's early life or nonpolitical activities, Piott locates Folk as a lawyer practicing in St. Louis in the 1890s. Working with young professionals in a Democratic reform club, and after gaining public notice as the union attorney in...