First Published in 1940, The American Presidency is the first full length study of the presidency in action in America to be written by an Englishman. It explains the working of the complicated system over which the President presides and particularly the vexed question of the dual control of foreign relations in the United States. Professor Laski offers a new theory of the place of the presidency in American life and, incidentally, throws light on the inner nature of the other great Anglo-Saxon democracy. His book is more than a formal description. It is essentially a novel interpretation of the greatest elective office in the democratic world. This is a must-read historical reference work for students of politics, American politics, and American history.

This is Laski's most important book after A Grammar of Politics . It discusses, on a grand scale, every aspect of American public life. Laski surveys American traditions and the American spirit, political institutions, the entire educational, religious, economic and social scene, America as a world power, and Americanism as a principle of civilisation. Laski's unsurpassed knowledge of American constitutional, social and cultural history is set in the perspective of his deep study of comparative constitutional history and political theory. He was one of very few people to see U.S. politics from the inside, as a result of his friendships with Roosevelt, Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Beginning with the new worlds of the Renaissance and the Reformation, this book traces the growth of liberal doctrine through the advent of the French Revolution. It shows the relationship of liberalism to the emerging economic system of capitalism, and the impact of this relationship upon science, philosophy, and literature. Laski explains how the same causes which produced the socially active aspect of liberalism also inspired the growth of socialism. The contributions of men like Machiavelli, Locke, and Voltaire, the influence of the voyages of discovery, and the effect of the Puritan Rebellion are among the special topics discussed. The Rise of European Liberalism is a historical survey of the development of liberal thought, from its earliest whispers in early Protestantism to its significance in the "Red Decade" of the 1930s. Laski argues that liberalism as a philosophy came into existence with the rise of capitalism and thus functions primarily as an ideological defense of private property in a business civilization. Hence, liberalism's progressive side is doomed to defeat because, throughout its history, the bourgeois nature of the ideology has always prevailed. In the new introduction, John Stanley traces the history and influences of Laski's thought and provides a detailed analysis of Laski's work. The essay provides a coherent study in itself of why Laski is better remembered than widely read. The Rise of European Liberalism is a classic text that deserves rediscovery for historians, philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists of the present day.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.

First Published in 1940, The American Presidency is the first full length study of the presidency in action in America to be written by an Englishman. It explains the working of the complicated system over which the President presides and particularly the vexed question of the dual control of foreign relations in the United States. Professor Laski offers a new theory of the place of the presidency in American life and, incidentally, throws light on the inner nature of the other great Anglo-Saxon democracy. His Book is more than a formal description. It is essentially a novel interpretation of the greatest elective office in the democratic world. This is a must-read historical reference work for students of politics, American politics, and American history.