The literary movement of the (nineteen) nineties had, at the turn of the century, brought the American face to face with the age of science. As industry herded him from the farms where he was responsible to the weather and the earth into the cities where he took his orders from steam and electric power, wheels and cogs, even the average unthinking man was forced to some sort of revaluation of his basic concenpts and values.
Robert Spiller, The Cycle of American Literature
The literary movement of the nineteen nineties, at the turn of the 20th century, brough Americans face to face with terror — including terror over the placement of — pronouns.