Drift and mastery : an attempt to diagnose the current unrest / Walter Lippmann ; introduction and notes by William E. Leuchtenburg ; foreword by Ganesh Sitaraman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lippmann, Walter, 1889-1974, author.

Sitaraman, Ganesh, author of introduction, etc.

Contributor:

Leuchtenburg, William E. (William Edward), 1922-2025, writer of introduction, etc.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Progressivism (United States politics).

United States--Social conditions--1865-1918.

United States.

United States--Politics and government.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (206 p.)

Edition:

Centennial edition.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wisconsin ; London, England : The University of Wisconsin Press, 2015.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In 1914, a brilliant young political journalist published a book arguing that the United States had entered a period of "drift"-a lack of control over rapidly changing forces in society. He highlighted the tensions between expansion and consolidation, traditionalism and progressivism, and emotion and rationality. He wrote to convince readers that they could balance these tensions: they could be organized, efficient, and functional without sacrificing impulse, choice, or liberty. Mastery over drift is attainable, Walter Lippmann argued, through diligent attention to facts and making active choices. Democracy, Lippman wrote, is "a use of freedom, an embrace of opportunity." Lippman's Drift and Mastery became one of the most important and influential documents of the Progressive Movement. It remains a valuable text for understanding the political thought of early twentieth-century America and a lucid exploration of timeless themes in American government and politics. Distinguished historian Walter Leuchtenberg's 1986 introduction and notes are retained in this edition. Ganesh Sitaraman, who has provided a foreword for this centennial edition, suggests that Lippmann's classic still has much to say to twenty-first-century progressives. The underlying solutions for our time, he believes, are similar to those of Lippman's era. Sitaraman contends that American society can regain mastery over drift by reforming finance and reducing inequality, by rethinking the relationship between corporations and workers, and by embracing changes in social life.

Contents:

Contents; Foreword; Walter Lippmann's Drift and Mastery; Introduction; Part One; 1. The Themes of Muckraking; 2. New Incentives; 3. The Magic of Property; 4. Caveat Emptor; 5. A Key to the Labor Movement; 6. The Funds of Progress; 7. "A Nation of Villagers""; Part Two; 8. A Big World and Little Men; 9. Drift; 10. The Rock of Ages; Part Three; 11. A Note on the Women's Movement; 12. Bogeys; 13. Poverty, Chastity, Obedience; 14. Mastery; 15. Modern Communion; 16. Fact and Fancy

Notes:

"First Wisconsin printing 1985. This edition first published in 1961 by Prentice-Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Originally published in 1914 by Mitchell Kennerley"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780299304706

0299304701

9780299304836

0299304833

OCLC:

908625702