Brief reading summary

Modernism was born in a quickly changing time.  The so-called second industrial revolution (in steel, electricity, and chemical manufacture) changed lives on a worldwide scale.  The extreme individualism engendered by the ultra-capitalism of the new industrialism gave rise to radical thought of all colors, but especially feminism and Marxism.  Workers found themselves at increasingly violent (cf. Bloody Sunday) with their governments.  As in the so-called age of revolutions, the countries that suffered the least instability (e.g. Great Britain) were the ones that were already mostly democratic and were continuing in the spirit of liberal reform.