Philip S Benjamin

from the introduction: "Quakers have always characterized themselves as a people apart from the cultural mainstream. In the 1860s they were governed by a Quietism which accentuated their aloofness from the rest of American society. . . . We shall see how their response to industrialization and urbanization as well as their outlook toward politics, reform, philanthropy, and minorities were part of their attempt to chart a distinctive course for themselves. . . . Quakers were influenced by secular pressures for conformity, [which] bear an important relation to the decline [of] Quietism . . . and their willingness to deal more vigorously with worldly concerns in the industrial city."… (mais)