Drift and Mastery: An Attempt to Diagnose the Current Unrest

…..Democracy is more than the absence of czars, more than freedom, more than equal opportunity. It is a way of life, a use of freedom, an embrace of opportunity…. –Walter Lippmann, in the Introduction, 1916

Drift and Mastery–An Attempt to Diagnose the Current Unrest, originally published in 1914, was Walter Lippmann’s second book and established him as a major public intellectual within the progressive movement. This classic book explored the differences between traditional and progressive values. Lippmann argued that democracy and society were at drift due to social and economic changes, and that the mastery of science and rationality in government could restore the balance in society and serve the public interest.

Drift and Mastery is a must-read for historians, political scientists, and all who are interested in American government and the Progressive Movement.