Although Lester Frank Ward's accomplishments are not as well known today, he is considered the father of American Sociology and his work profoundly influenced such important thinkers as Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Edward Ross, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. In Apostle of Human Progress, Edward C. Rafferty presents the first full scale intellectual portrait of this important public thinker. Rafferty shows how Ward's thought laid the foundations for the modern administrative state and explores his contributions to twentieth century American liberalism. Ideal for anyone interested in the history of American intellectuals and ideas.

By Edward Rafferty

Chapter 1 Acknowledgments
Chapter 2 Introduction: A Life Apart From Circumstantial Things
Chapter 3 Self-Made Men, 1841-1862
Chapter 4 An Equal Chance in the Race of Life, 1861-1870
Chapter 5 The Land of Birds and Flowers, 1870-1879
Chapter 6 Restless Skepticism, 1880-1883
Chapter 7 A True National Philosophy, 1883-1887
Chapter 8 The Great Social Problem, 1886-1893
Chapter 9 Spencer-Smashing at Washington, 1894-1900
Chapter 10 Gulliver Among the Lilliputians, 1900-1913
Chapter 11 Conclusion: Glimpses of the Cosmos