Reformers and War: American Progressive Publicists and the First World War

The subject of this book is the confrontation between the American reform tradition, historically inward-looking, and the first of the world conflicts in which the United States has been involved in the twentieth century. It focuses upon those writers and journals most prominently associated with ‘the progressive movement’ and examines their response to the First World War and the effect of the war on their thinking. During ‘the progressive era’ a number of journalists and authors had acquired national reputations as social critics or as spokesmen for reform. This thoroughly researched account revises earlier views about both the attitudes of progressives toward the war and the decline of ‘the progressive movement.’ It will be of interest to students of the intellectual history of American foreign policy as well as of progressivism.