Kevin Mattson is Research Director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University.
“The ultimate lessons Mattson draws from his research are both
timely and compelling. Clearly, attempting to connect citizen
deliberation to the direct avenues of political power will be no
easy task. Furthermore, those who struggle for a democratic
community must understand that their efforts require more than the
freedoms now available in a consumer society and that fledgling
movements are always in danger of being swallowed up by large,
bureaucratic institutions.”—James R. Simmons New Political
Science
“Creating a Democratic Public, by Kevin Mattson, is one of those
books that provide a new lens for viewing American political theory
and practice. . . . What makes his contribution so original and
valuable is his ability to make philosophical concerns about the
meaning of democracy concrete. Practice informs theory throughout
the book. Mattson not only succeeds in describing the huge flaws in
our political system but also traces the flaws to their source and
provides a historical analysis of a kind of institutional reform
that could inform present-day efforts to create a participatory
democracy.”—Aaron D. Hoffman Perspectives on Political Science
“Ultimately Mattson challenges readers to reconsider contemporary
conceptions of democracy that view citizens as consumers, and he
contributes to contemporary discussions of ways to invigorate
democratic practice. Highly recommended for all readership
levels.”—Choice
“In an era of quickening concern about citizenship and community in
contemporary America, we have a lot to learn from the
community-building activities of Progressive Era reformers. Kevin
Mattson's instructive account of their successes and failures is a
timely contribution.”—Robert D. Putnam,Harvard University
“The Progressive Era was filled with the rhetoric of democracy, but
in recent years historians have found the meaning of progressivism
rather in various hierarchies of power. Kevin Mattson's
considerable accomplishment in this fine book is to recover the
era's emergent democratic public and its localized activities, from
adult education to political meetings. Mattson's openly committed
history is important for its more complicated rendering of
progressive democracy, for its elaboration of a lively public
culture, and for the encouragement it offers to the project of
participatory democracy.”—Thomas Bender,New York University
“Kevin Mattson's book recovers one of the most important moments in
the history of genuinely democratic reform in American history. A
major contribution to the rethinking of progressivism, this book
also offers a usable past to those struggling in the present to
render our politics and culture more democratic.”—Robert
Westbrook,University of Rochester
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