"The Promise of American Life"

Paper Summary:

This paper provides a discussion and analysis of Herbert Croly's 1909 book, "The Promise of American Life". It aims to identify the author's conception of "national democracy," which is followed by a summary of the research in the conclusion.

From the Paper:

"According to Wilfred M. McClay, although it would be hard to find someone today who would admit to having read it, Herbert Croly's 1909 book, The Promise of American Life remains worthy of respectful examination because its fundamental ideas still ". . . flow through the national political discourse, permeating the agendas and rhetoric of both political parties." In fact, despite the paucity of contemporary readership, "Herbert Croly was the greatest American political philosopher of the twentieth century." McClay emphasizes though, that while this impact has been and continues to be pronounced, it remains largely unacknowledged. McClay suggests that no other work of the day contributed more to the "fateful redefinition of liberalism in our century, from an ideology of the minimalist, decentralized state into an ideology of the activist, interventionist, and centralized national state." Notwithstanding the unacknowledged impact, there remain some dubious assertions in Croly's analyses of how and where America needs to go, and most particularly how it must get there. "

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