Originally published in 1909. Author: Herbert Croly Language: English Keywords: History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The Promise of American Life was first published in 1909. It had an immediate and extensive influence on what social historians call the Progressive Era. At the dawn of the New Deal Era, Felix Frankfurter wrote that Croly's book became "a reservoir for all political writings after its publication. Roosevelt's New Nationalism was countered by Wilson's New Freedom, but both derived from Croly." While this may have been hyperbole, it is also a reflection of the impact The Promise made on intellectuals coming of age in the days of doubt and hope just before the Fust World War. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., calls this book "a substantive and sensitive essay on the American political experience, worth examination not just for historical reasons but on its continuing merits as a diagnosis of the American condition." Croly himself summarizes the work thus: "From the beginning the land of democracy has been figured as the land of promise. The American's loyalty to the national tradition rather affirms than denies the imaginative projection of a better future." Croly's book can be viewed as both an affirmation and critique of how the idea of progress works its way out in American life. And reading it at the end of the century only reaffirms one's sense of appreciation of the American tradition as a whole. The technology and science may be different, but the themes covered by Croly show an astonishing continuity of value issues: American Democracy and National Principles, Reform and Reaction; Federalists and Republicans, Nationalism and Internationalism; and the Individual and the National Purpose. All of these themes are central to Croly and remain so to this day. The new, forty-page introduction by Scott R. Bowman, brings the story of The Promise up to date. But it may be studied with a critical eye to the social maladies confronting Americans as a new century approaches.

Croly explains the requirements for a genuinely popular system of representative government providing progressive liberalism with both a philosophical critique of the founding fathers' political outlook, and a political strategy for replacing it with something more in keeping with a new epoch. Although it was written in 1914, the intellectual structure remains largely intact within the liberal-progressive tradition.

In Progressive Democracy, Herbert Crowly explains the requirements for a genuinely popular system of representative government. He provides progressive liberalism with both a philosophical critique of the founding fathers' political outlook, and a political startegy for replacing it with something more in keeping with a new epoch.Although written in 1914,the intellectual structure of Progressive Democracy remains largely intact within the liberal-progressive tradition.It represents the continuation of Crowly's pioneering work begun with The Promise of American Life.

The Promise of American Life was first published in 1909. It had an immediate and extensive influence on what social historians call the Progressive Era. At the dawn of the New Deal Era, Felix Frankfurter wrote that Croly's book became "a reservoir for all political writings after its publication. Roosevelt's New Nationalism was countered by Wilson's New Freedom, but both derived from Croly." While this may have been hyperbole, it is also a reflection of the impact The Promise made on intellectuals coming of age in the days of doubt and hope just before the Fust World War. Arthur Schlesinger Jr., calls this book "a substantive and sensitive essay on the American political experience, worth examination not just for historical reasons but on its continuing merits as a diagnosis of the American condition." Croly himself summarizes the work thus: "From the beginning the land of democracy has been figured as the land of promise. The American's loyalty to the national tradition rather affirms than denies the imaginative projection of a better future." Croly's book can be viewed as both an affirmation and critique of how the idea of progress works its way out in American life. And reading it at the end of the century only reaffirms one's sense of appreciation of the American tradition as a whole. The technology and science may be different, but the themes covered by Croly show an astonishing continuity of value issues: American Democracy and National Principles, Reform and Reaction; Federalists and Republicans, Nationalism and Internationalism; and the Individual and the National Purpose. All of these themes are central to Croly and remain so to this day. The new, forty-page introduction by Scott R. Bowman, brings the story of The Promise up to date. But it may be studied with a critical eye to the social maladies confronting Americans as a new century approaches.

"The Promise of American Life" is part of the bedrock of American liberalism, a classic that had a spectacular impact on national politics when it was first published in 1909 and that has been recognized ever since as a defining text of liberal reform. The book helped inspire Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism and Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, put Herbert Croly on a path to become the founding editor of the "New Republic," and prompted Walter Lippmann to call him twentieth-century America's "first important political philosopher." The book is at once a history of America and its political ideals and an analysis of contemporary ills, from rampant economic inequality to unchecked corporate power. In response, Croly advocated combining the Hamiltonian and Jeffersonian traditions and creating a strong federal government to ensure that all Americans had a fair shot at individual success. The formula still defines American liberalism, and "The Promise of American Life" continues to resonate today, offering a vital source of renewal for liberals and progressives. For this new edition, Franklin Foer has written a substantial foreword that puts the book in historical context and explains its continuing importance.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1910 Edition.

This Is A New Release Of The Original 1910 Edition.

This collection chronicles the fiction and non fiction classics by the greatest writers the world has ever known. The inclusion of both popular as well as overlooked pieces is pivotal to providing a broad and representative collection of classic works.

1910. Contents: What is the Promise of American Life?; The Federalists and the Republicans; The Democrats and the Whigs; Slavery and American Nationality; The Contemporary Situation; Reform and the Reformers; Reconstruction; Its Conditions and Purposes; Nationality and Democracy; The American Democracy and Its National Principle; A National Foreign Policy; Problems or Reconstruction-Part I.; Problems or Reconstruction-Part II.; and Conclusions-The Individual and the National Purpose.

1910. Contents: What is the Promise of American Life?; The Federalists and the Republicans; The Democrats and the Whigs; Slavery and American Nationality; The Contemporary Situation; Reform and the Reformers; Reconstruction; Its Conditions and Purposes; Nationality and Democracy; The American Democracy and Its National Principle; A National Foreign Policy; Problems or Reconstruction-Part I.; Problems or Reconstruction-Part II.; and Conclusions-The Individual and the National Purpose.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

Originally published in 1909. Author: Herbert Croly Language: English Keywords: History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Aggressive voices promote minority special interests. Wealth is concentrated in fewer and fewer hands. The middle class is under siege. Giant corporations and big business threaten democracy itself. Such was the state of the United States after the Civil War, and if it sounds familiar, then it only underlines the continuing relevance of Herbert Croly's The Promise of American Life, first published in 1909. Croly saw an American culture desperately fragmented, torn by the transformation from a rural, agrarian economy to an urban, industrial one, and called for a righting of societal and economic imbalances through collective national efforts and strong government. President Teddy Roosevelt backed his theories, which also influenced the shape and scope of FDR's New Deal years later. But the historical import of Croly's passionate and stirring manifesto on Progressive political belief is overshadowed by its pertinence to the social and economic issues facing Americans today. American journalist HERBERT CROLY (1869-1930), one of the foremost political philosophers of the early 20th century, helped found The New Republic magazine in 1914.

1910. Contents: What is the Promise of American Life?; The Federalists and the Republicans; The Democrats and the Whigs; Slavery and American Nationality; The Contemporary Situation; Reform and the Reformers; Reconstruction; Its Conditions and Purposes; Nationality and Democracy; The American Democracy and Its National Principle; A National Foreign Policy; Problems or Reconstruction-Part I.; Problems or Reconstruction-Part II.; and Conclusions-The Individual and the National Purpose.

1910. Contents: What is the Promise of American Life?; The Federalists and the Republicans; The Democrats and the Whigs; Slavery and American Nationality; The Contemporary Situation; Reform and the Reformers; Reconstruction; Its Conditions and Purposes; Nationality and Democracy; The American Democracy and Its National Principle; A National Foreign Policy; Problems or Reconstruction-Part I.; Problems or Reconstruction-Part II.; and Conclusions-The Individual and the National Purpose.

Originally published in 1903, the chapters are: Men Who Build Fine HousesThe Colonial ResidenceThe Meaning of the Transitional DwellingThe Character of the Transitional DwellingThe Beginnings of the Greater Modern ResidenceThe Modern American Residence - Economic and Social ConditionsThe Modern American Residence - Its ExteriorThe Modern American Residence - Its InteriorVintage photos (both interior and exterior) are included with history about the homes, and architectural opinions of the time are given. A large number of homes are covered in extensive detail, including the residences of William Waldorf Astor, Andrew Carnegie, Henry M. Flagler, Cornelius Vanderbilt, J. Pierpont Morgan, Potter Palmer, Lawrence C. Phipps, and many more.

One of the most important books to emerge from the Progressive era, The Promise of American Life offered a blueprint for a modern activist government that had enormous impact on intellectuals coming of age before World War I.