Ready Made Democracy or Program Theory Driven Evaluation Science

Ready-Made Democracy: A History of Men's Dress in the American Republic 1760-1860

Author: Michael Zakim

Ready-Made Democracy explores the history of men's dress in America to consider how capitalism and democracy emerged at the center of American life during the century between the Revolution and the Civil War. Michael Zakim demonstrates how clothing initially attained a significant place in the American political imagination on the eve of Independence. At a time when household production was a popular expression of civic virtue, homespun clothing was widely regarded as a reflection of America's most cherished republican values: simplicity, industriousness, frugality, and independence.
By the early nineteenth century, homespun began to disappear from the American material landscape. Exhortations of industry and modesty, however, remained a common fixture of public life. In fact, they found expression in the form of the business suit. Here, Zakim traces the evolution of homespun clothing into its ostensible opposite—the woolen coats, vests, and pantaloons that were "ready-made" for sale and wear across the country. In doing so, he demonstrates how traditional notions of work and property actually helped give birth to the modern industrial order. For Zakim, the history of men's dress in America mirrored this transformation of the nation's social and material landscape: profit-seeking in newly expanded markets, organizing a waged labor system in the city, shopping at "single-prices," and standardizing a business persona.
In illuminating the critical links between politics, economics, and fashion in antebellum America, Ready-Made Democracy will prove essential to anyone interested in the history of the United States and in the creation of modern culture ingeneral.

Library Journal

Examining the American Colonial and early republican experience, Zakim (history, Tel Aviv Univ.) shows us how clothing can make history. During the early Industrial Revolution, England needed to foster its nascent textile business; it kept textile technology secret and regulated trade so as to import raw materials cheaply from its colonies and sell back to them the finished goods-bolts of finely made and costly fabrics. Colonial Americans chafed under this restrictive regime, for they had to sell cheap and buy dear-a recipe for penury, if not poverty. Hence, America resisted, and this resistance as well as others led to its War of Independence. The American Colonies at first sent emissaries to plead with Parliament for relief, but when none came, they sent spies to steal industrial secrets. Colonial governments and public media, moreover, made it a virtue to refuse English goods and rely on homemade products-in this instance homespun fabrics. Homespun dress came to mark the self-reliant American patriot. A rewriting of Zakim's doctoral dissertation at Columbia University, this book is not a casual read but scholarly, detailed, and thoroughly annotated. Recommended for academic libraries and public libraries with specialty collections in industrial or fashion history.-James F. DeRoche, Alexandria, VA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Acknowledgments
	Introduction: Sartorial Politics	1
1	A Homespun Ideology	11
2	A Clothing Business	37
3	The Reinvention of Tailoring	69
4	Dressing for Work	96
5	Ready-Made Labor	127
6	The Seamstress	157
7	A Fashion Regime	185
	Conclusion	212
	Notes	221
	Index	289

Look this: Big Book of Low Carb Recipes or Health Science and Ordinary Language

Program Theory-Driven Evaluation Science: Strategies and Applications

Author: Stewart I Donaldson

Program Theory-Driven Evaluation Science fills the gap between 21st century literature on evaluation and what is happening in practice. It features detailed examples of how evaluations actually unfold in practice to develop people, programs, and organizations. Commonly accepted strategies for practicing evaluation are outlined, followed by comprehensive accounts of how those strategies have played out in the face of the complexities and challenges of "real world" settings. In so doing, the book illustrates the authentic challenges of implementing an evaluation approach in practice.

Author Stewart Donaldson provides a state-of-the-art treatment of the practice of program theory-driven evaluation science. Each case follows a three-step model: developing program impact theory; formulating and prioritizing evaluation questions; and answering evaluation questions. Initial chapters discuss the emergence of program theory-driven evaluation science and specific strategies for carrying out each of the three steps. Succeeding chapters address recent applications and practical implications of evaluation science. The challenges and lessons learned from the cases are then reviewed.

This volume is of significant value to evaluation practitioners, professors and trainers of evaluation, evaluation researchers, and advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and serves as a text for courses in evaluation and applied research methods. It is also of great interest to those interested in the connections between work and health, career development, human service organizations, and organizational improvement and effectiveness.