This book describes and analyzes an important aspect of American intellectual history, the climate of opinion in which nine leaders of progressive thought in America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were important creators and spokesmen. By closely examining the central ideas of these men, Professor Noble presents an illuminating view of a significant phase of the liberal tradition in America. At the same time, he questions many of the generally accepted views about the philosophical basis of traditional liberalism and demonstrates the paradox of progressive thought. The social philosophers whose writings and teachings he scrutinizes are Herbert Croly, long-time editor of the James Mark Baldwin, psychologist and philosopher; Charles H. Cooley, author of F. H. Johnson, theologian whose name was linked with Darwinism; Henry Demarest Lloyd, reformer and newspaperman who attacked the evils of monopoly in his book Richard T. Ely, economist and early advocate of Christian socialism; Simon N. Patten, whose work lifted him to fame; Thorstein Veblen, whose is a household word today; and Walter Rauschenbusch, the Baptist clergyman who wrote and . In addition, there is extensive consideration of the thought and influence of Carl L. Becker, the noted historian and analyst of thought and philosophy in action.