Brooks, John Graham, 1846-1938

John Graham Brooks (July 19, 1846 – February 8, 1938) was an American sociologist, political reformer, and author. A former Unitarian minister, Brooks resigned from the ministry in 1891 and became an academic specialist in the field of labor relations. A lecturer and public intellectual, Brooks rejected the doctrine of socialism, instead advocating for the regulation of predatory monopolies and the initiation of progressive social reform legislation to ameliorate the most glaring problems suffered by the working class. Brooks advanced his ideas as the author of several books which gained a broad readership among American intellectuals, including The Social Unrest (1903) and American Syndicalism (1913). Brooks' papers are housed today by Harvard University.