Description
Book SynopsisLester Frank Ward is regarded as one of the greatest thinkers of the late 19th century. This work covers how Ward's thought laid the foundations for the modern administrative state, and brings out his contributions to 20th century American liberalism.
Trade ReviewEdward 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
Table of ContentsChapter 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
