This book was written during the years 1940–42 and first published in 1944. Although it was meant to be a reflective study rather than a tract for the times, it was naturally influenced by the political and moral controversy of the New Deal era. In some respects my views have changed since the first edition appeared. However, in revising the book I have not tried to bring the substance of the text into coherence with my present views, except at a few points where I was jarred by the rhetoric of the original version. After a period of years a book acquires an independent life, and the author may be so fortunate as to achieve a certain healthy detachment from it, which reconciles him to letting it stand on its own.
Although I have not made major changes of content, I have added a new introduction and completely rewritten the text, entering innumerable stylistic changes, rewriting several passages to rectify old errors or ambiguities and a few which, for reasons of taste, seemed to demand a complete reworking. Beatrice Kevitt Hofstadter shared equally with me in the task of revision.
The volume was originally completed while I held the William Bayard Cutting Traveling Fellowship at Columbia University and was first published under the auspices of the Albert J. Beveridge Memorial Fund of the American Historical Association.
R. H.