Who were the Progressive reformers arguing with? The answer might surprise you. Drawing together a veritable powerhouse of scholars from across the political spectrum, "In Defense of the Founders Republic" examines the historical roots of these critics as well as their potential contribution to current debates about government and role of politics and institutions in our constitutional republic. Profiles and debates across a variety of progressive-era dissenters including politicians, community activists, political scientists, and socialists create a more complete picture of the national conversation, and the development of this monumental American political era. With clear contemporary relevance, ""In Defense of the Founders Republic""is required reading for anyone interested in the complete progressive debate.

The Progressive era has long been viewed as the seedbed of the modern American state, a time when a powerful reformist impulse reshaped the nation's political life in what some have called a "second founding". Driven by a belief in executive-centered government yet devoted to the ideal of participatory democracy, Progressives sought to create self-rule on a grand scale and break the hold of localist parties and courts that had dominated American politics for decades.

In this wide-ranging appraisal of the legacy of Progressivism, a distinguished group of political scientists and historians reconsiders the achievements and failures of the "new democracy". The essays explore the impact of Progressivism on domestic as well as foreign affairs, on the theory as well as the practice of American government and politics. Taken together, the pieces offer an original, interdisciplinary critique of modern American political development, one that challenges traditional interpretations of the pivotal first decades of the twentieth century.

In addition to editors Sidney M. Milkis and Jerome M. Mileur, the contributors are Martha Derthick, John J. Dinan, Eldon J. Eisenach, Philip J. Ethington, Alonzo L. Hamby, Morton Keller, Eileen L. McDonagh, and Wilson Carey McWilliams.

Who were the Progressive reformers arguing with? The answer might surprise you. Drawing together a veritable powerhouse of scholars from across the political spectrum, "In Defense of the Founders Republic" examines the historical roots of these critics as well as their potential contribution to current debates about government and role of politics and institutions in our constitutional republic. Profiles and debates across a variety of progressive-era dissenters including politicians, community activists, political scientists, and socialists create a more complete picture of the national conversation, and the development of this monumental American political era. With clear contemporary relevance, ""In Defense of the Founders Republic""is required reading for anyone interested in the complete progressive debate.