Shaping Modern Liberalism: Herbert Croly and Progressive Thought
"At a time when liberalism seems questioned on every side, this lively book on Croly, who as much as anyone developed the progressive creed of Wilsonianism and the New Deal, is particularly welcome. It brings out the reasoning behind many premises and plans of twentieth-century progressives-and also the difficulties and doubts that came to cloud Croly's own hopes."--Robert K. Faulkner, author ofThe Jurisprudence of John Marshall"By far the best study of Herbert Croly as a political and social philosopher. Stettner illuminates the origins, evolution, and expression of Croly's thought, with insightful reference to Croly's personal life and involvement in larger affairs. Inasmuch as Stettner succeeds in establishing Croly's overweening significance as a liberal thinker, he has written a book with exciting contemporary resonance at a time when America and the world are struggling to define the focus of humane politics in the post-Cold War, post-socialist era."--John Milton Cooper, Jr., author ofPivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920