The Creative Society – and the Price Americans Paid for It

“The Creative Society is a bold, provocative, and compelling reinterpretation of perennial dilemmas in American society written by an historian at the top of his game. Louis Galambos brings his ‘organizational synthesis’ to life by evoking the experiences that animated the new professionals – in education, business, government, foreign policy, and urban life – who have made America work since the 1890s. This is history at its best: thoughtful, captivating, witty, and wise. Everyone who reads The Creative Society will gain a new understanding of key crises in American history – and novel insights to make sense of the challenges we face today.” – Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Senior Partner at RabinMartin, former president and CEO of Global Health Council

“Louis Galambos is equally adept as storyteller and historian. Witty, readable, illuminating, and sometimes highly personal, this is a history book with the drama of a novel. Professor Galambos charts twentieth-century American development in four broad areas – urbanization, innovation, economic security, and internationalism – and weaves throughout these concurrent narratives an astonishing array of detail. His cast of characters is America’s self-proclaimed and educated professionals. Lawyers, economists, nurses, urban planners, mining engineers, teachers, and even military strategists act out a historical pageant that boasts winners and losers. Most vividly, Galambos stirs his own family story into the mix. His small-town Ohio clan of bustling Hungarian emigrants shares the stage with prominent twentieth-century figures like Emma Goldman, George Marshall, and Robert Moses. And in a masterstroke of history writing, he invites us, his readers, to enhance his storytelling with reflections on our own American experience." – Mary Yeager and John Lithgow, Los Angeles, California

"Galambos has managed to create a work that is informative, humane, and entertaining at the same time, making this book valuable for undergraduate students as well as scholars interested in the creation of modern America. Highly recommended." -Choice

"...an ambitious work that uncovers a crucial root from which springs much of America’s strength and durability – its class of professional workers." -Ahmed Rahman, EH.Net

"...it does provide a new and valuable appreciation of how professionals have shaped our history and culture, and the abiding sense that they will save us once again." -Ahmed S. Rahman, EH.Net

"Well written in a journalistic style, this synthetic work deserves a place in the current literature." -Burton J. Bledstein, The Journal of American History