Apostle of Human Progress

Lester Frank Ward and American Political Thought, 1841-1913

Edward C. Rafferty

Although Lester Frank Ward's accomplishments are not as well known today, he is considered the father of American Sociology and his work profoundly influenced such important thinkers as Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Edward Ross, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In Apostle of Human Progress, Edward C. Rafferty presents the first full scale intellectual portrait of this important public thinker. Rafferty shows how Ward's thought laid the foundations for the modern administrative state and explores his contributions to twentieth century American liberalism. Ideal for anyone interested in the history of American intellectuals and ideas.

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 376 • Trim: 6⅛ x 9¼

978-0-7425-2216-9 • Hardback • June 2003 • $177.00 • (£137.00)

978-0-7425-2217-6 • Paperback • June 2003 • $71.00 • (£55.00)

978-0-585-46671-2 • eBook • June 2003 • $67.00 • (£52.00)

Series: American Intellectual Culture

Subjects: History / United States / 19th Century

Apostle of Human Progress

Lester Frank Ward and American Political Thought, 1841-1913

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Although Lester Frank Ward's accomplishments are not as well known today, he is considered the father of American Sociology and his work profoundly influenced such important thinkers as Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Edward Ross, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In Apostle of Human Progress, Edward C. Rafferty presents the first full scale intellectual portrait of this important public thinker. Rafferty shows how Ward's thought laid the foundations for the modern administrative state and explores his contributions to twentieth century American liberalism. Ideal for anyone interested in the history of American intellectuals and ideas.

Details

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Pages: 376 • Trim: 6⅛ x 9¼

978-0-7425-2216-9 • Hardback • June 2003 • $177.00 • (£137.00)

978-0-7425-2217-6 • Paperback • June 2003 • $71.00 • (£55.00)

978-0-585-46671-2 • eBook • June 2003 • $67.00 • (£52.00)

Series: American Intellectual Culture

Subjects: History / United States / 19th Century

Author

Edward C. Rafferty is assistant professor of social science at Boston University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 Introduction: A Life Apart From Circumstantial Things
Chapter 3 Self-Made Men, 1841-1862
Chapter 4 An Equal Chance in the Race of Life, 1861-1870
Chapter 5 The Land of Birds and Flowers, 1870-1879
Chapter 6 Restless Skepticism, 1880-1883
Chapter 7 A True National Philosophy, 1883-1887
Chapter 8 The Great Social Problem, 1886-1893
Chapter 9 Spencer-Smashing at Washington, 1894-1900
Chapter 10 Gulliver Among the Lilliputians, 1900-1913
Chapter 11 Conclusion: Glimpses of the Cosmos

Reviews

Edward C. Rafferty has done an important service by writing this new intellectual biography of Lester Frank Ward, once known as the father of American Sociology. Rafferty presents the most comprehensive and balanced view of the life and work of this giant of American social thought of the late nineteenth and early-twentieth century that has appeared to date.
— The Review of Politics

A thorough biographical portrait of the whole span of Ward's life with very fair-minded coverage and evaluation of his social thought. Rafferty's major contribution—even beyond his impressive thoroughness—is his placement of Ward in the context of Washington and government intellectuals. The ideas of the leading theorist of 'Reform Darwinism' are routinely referred to abstractly; Rafferty portrays the living struggles that went into the making of his influential theories.
— Paul Jerome Croce, author of Science and Religion in the Era of William James