In Search of a Democratic America: The Writings of Randolph S. Bourne

The America that Randolph S. Bourne searched for his entire life - but never found - was an America in which the institutions of democratic government remained responsive to the needs of all. A progressive in the age of progressivism, Bourne fully understood John Jay’s dictum that the United States should be governed by the people who own it . The Atlantic Monthly , the New Republic and the Dial were the forum for Bourne’s social commentary during a brief career that lasted from 1912 to 1918. This work offers a selection of Bourne’s writings on politics, religion, education, philosophy, society and youth. The readings and commentary reveal the literary radical and social critic in his true guise as a spokesman for liberal democracy, a democratic theorist who strove for a modern, industrial, multi-ethnic nation peopled by the intelligent, the caring, and the concerned.