Will Morrisey is one of the most penetrating students of statesmanship and political philosophy writing today. This learned and wise book continues his exploration of the meaning-and fate-of self-government in the American political tradition and in the western democratic world as whole. It shows exactly what is at stake in the contemporary displacement of natural rights by an amorphous 'historical consciousness' as well as the difficulty of sustaining self-government in a world dominated bureaucratic statism.

Daniel J. Mahoney, Assumption College

Well-written volume....Recommended.

Choice Reviews

Consumers of high political philosophy will find this book stimulating.

Claremont Review of Books

In this philosophically informed study of the political thought of Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson, Will Morrisey provides a fair-minded critique of the challenge to American anti-statist constitutionalism posed by progressive reformers and intellectuals in the early twentieth century. Morrisey's lucid and penetrating account elevates the study of the origins of the modern liberal state to a new level of historical insight and understanding.

Herman Belz, University of Maryland