Bob Pepperman Taylor, professor of political science and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Vermont, is the author of Our Limits Transgressed: Environmental Political Thought in America and America's Bachelor Uncle: Thoreau and the American Polity.

"In this thoughtful and provocative meditation on the shortcomings of the Progressive temperament, the political theorist Bob Pepperman Taylor gives a close reading of texts by six writers from the era, Walter Lippmann, Herbert Croly, John Dewey, Jane Addams, Carl Becker,and Aldo Leopold. . . . This work is a welcome addition to the dialogue of current historians about the development of social justice both as ideology and practice and the role of gender in those developments."— Journal of American History"Because Taylor considers Progressive Era thinkers as ‘the most creative, optimistic, and committed generation of democratic thinkers and activists in American history,’ he has undertaken a philosophical analysis of selected progressive thinkers as a guide to good citizenship and democratic practice. . . . A well-written book."— Historian"A valuable supplement to the existing literature and is worth reading by anyone with a serious interest in the history of American political ideas or in the Progressives in particular. . . . The author’s arguments represent an important warning to contemporary American secular humanists, liberals, and progressives who might be more inclined to follow the arrogant politics of Dewey, Lippmann, and Croly than they are the humble politics of Addams, Leopold, and Becker."— Perspectives on Politics"Taylor’s work is a subtle—and slightly alarmed—meditation on the requirements of a democratic society, and as such, it is simply first-rate. Highly recommended."— Choice"At a time when interest in Progressivism has surged, Taylor’s book offers concise, insightful, and interlinked readings of familiar and unfamiliar intellectuals to build a powerful argument that progressive ideas are most compelling when laced with second thoughts born of democratic commitments. This is a must-read book for all who study the political thought of Progressivism."— Eldon Eisenach, author of The Lost Promise of Progressivism

• Acknowledgments1. Democratic Doubt2. The Heavenly City of the Twentieth-Century Progressives3. Jane Addams: “A Modern Lear”4. Carl Becker: The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers5. Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac6. ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

Bob Pepperman Taylor, professor of political science and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Vermont, is the author of Our Limits Transgressed: Environmental Political Thought in America and America's Bachelor Uncle: Thoreau and the American Polity.

"In this thoughtful and provocative meditation on the shortcomings of the Progressive temperament, the political theorist Bob Pepperman Taylor gives a close reading of texts by six writers from the era, Walter Lippmann, Herbert Croly, John Dewey, Jane Addams, Carl Becker,and Aldo Leopold. . . . This work is a welcome addition to the dialogue of current historians about the development of social justice both as ideology and practice and the role of gender in those developments."— Journal of American History"Because Taylor considers Progressive Era thinkers as ‘the most creative, optimistic, and committed generation of democratic thinkers and activists in American history,’ he has undertaken a philosophical analysis of selected progressive thinkers as a guide to good citizenship and democratic practice. . . . A well-written book."— Historian"A valuable supplement to the existing literature and is worth reading by anyone with a serious interest in the history of American political ideas or in the Progressives in particular. . . . The author’s arguments represent an important warning to contemporary American secular humanists, liberals, and progressives who might be more inclined to follow the arrogant politics of Dewey, Lippmann, and Croly than they are the humble politics of Addams, Leopold, and Becker."— Perspectives on Politics"Taylor’s work is a subtle—and slightly alarmed—meditation on the requirements of a democratic society, and as such, it is simply first-rate. Highly recommended."— Choice"At a time when interest in Progressivism has surged, Taylor’s book offers concise, insightful, and interlinked readings of familiar and unfamiliar intellectuals to build a powerful argument that progressive ideas are most compelling when laced with second thoughts born of democratic commitments. This is a must-read book for all who study the political thought of Progressivism."— Eldon Eisenach, author of The Lost Promise of Progressivism

• Acknowledgments1. Democratic Doubt2. The Heavenly City of the Twentieth-Century Progressives3. Jane Addams: “A Modern Lear”4. Carl Becker: The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers5. Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac6. ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex

Bob Pepperman Taylor, professor of political science and Dean of the Honors College at the University of Vermont, is the author of Our Limits Transgressed: Environmental Political Thought in America and America's Bachelor Uncle: Thoreau and the American Polity.

"In this thoughtful and provocative meditation on the shortcomings of the Progressive temperament, the political theorist Bob Pepperman Taylor gives a close reading of texts by six writers from the era, Walter Lippmann, Herbert Croly, John Dewey, Jane Addams, Carl Becker,and Aldo Leopold. . . . This work is a welcome addition to the dialogue of current historians about the development of social justice both as ideology and practice and the role of gender in those developments."— Journal of American History"Because Taylor considers Progressive Era thinkers as ‘the most creative, optimistic, and committed generation of democratic thinkers and activists in American history,’ he has undertaken a philosophical analysis of selected progressive thinkers as a guide to good citizenship and democratic practice. . . . A well-written book."— Historian"A valuable supplement to the existing literature and is worth reading by anyone with a serious interest in the history of American political ideas or in the Progressives in particular. . . . The author’s arguments represent an important warning to contemporary American secular humanists, liberals, and progressives who might be more inclined to follow the arrogant politics of Dewey, Lippmann, and Croly than they are the humble politics of Addams, Leopold, and Becker."— Perspectives on Politics"Taylor’s work is a subtle—and slightly alarmed—meditation on the requirements of a democratic society, and as such, it is simply first-rate. Highly recommended."— Choice"At a time when interest in Progressivism has surged, Taylor’s book offers concise, insightful, and interlinked readings of familiar and unfamiliar intellectuals to build a powerful argument that progressive ideas are most compelling when laced with second thoughts born of democratic commitments. This is a must-read book for all who study the political thought of Progressivism."— Eldon Eisenach, author of The Lost Promise of Progressivism

• Acknowledgments1. Democratic Doubt2. The Heavenly City of the Twentieth-Century Progressives3. Jane Addams: “A Modern Lear”4. Carl Becker: The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers5. Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac6. ConclusionNotesBibliographyIndex