Description
Book SynopsisBruce A. Kimball attacks the widely held assumption that the idea of American professionalism arose from the proliferation of urban professional positions during the late nineteenth century. This first paperback edition of The True Professional Ideal in America argues that the professional ideal can be traced back to the colonial period. This comprehensive intellectual history illuminates the profound relationships between the idea of a professional and broader changes in American social, cultural, and political history.
Trade Review[T]he best history of American professions to date. This book will become a classic of intellectual and social history. -- Harold Perkin, Northwestern University
a veritable ^Rsumma^I on the professions. -- R Sheldon Rothblatt, University of California, Berkeley
Absolutely wonderful. It cannot fail to become a landmark in the literature not only of professionalization, but also of intellectual history more broadly considered. -- Philip Gleason, University of Notre Dame
[A] useful, densely researched, multilayered work in U.S. cultural and intellectual history. * American Historical Review *
...[A] brilliant book. * Times Literary Supplement *
