by Casey Blake

If there are gluttons for punishment out there who would like to explore further the historical issues that Eric Rauchway and I discussed in our exchange on Progressivism, I recommend they turn to John Louis Recchiuti's excellent new book, Civic Engagement: Social Science and Progressive-Era Reform in New York City. In addition to mapping the elaborate network of social-science institutes, settlement houses, schools, think tanks, and government agencies that Progressives created in New York, Recchiuti deftly explores the tensions between democracy and expertise that marked reformist ideas and politics at the turn of the last century.