No book is the product of any one person, yet I blush to think how many of my friends and acquaintances have, sometimes advertently, shared in the construction of this one. To my students and colleagues at Skidmore College who have listened long and tolerantly and, most importantly, critically, I owe the largest obligation. Robert Orrill and Erwin Levine have been sharp-eyed and helpful, and their comments have been especially valued. Edwin Moseley, Skidmore's provost and dean of faculty, provided encouragement and support for which I am deeply grateful. While a graduate student at Yale, I had the good counsel of John Morton Blum, R. W. B. Lewis, John E. Smith, and the late David Potter, all of whom generously helped bring order--and progress--out of my investigation of pragmatism. Then, and more recently when I had the opportunity to return to New Haven for a year of study, I found Norman Holmes Pearson an unfailing source of wisdom and shrewd advice. William Goetzmann of the University of Texas provided a welcome critique of my estimate of Beard. During my under- graduate days, I was fortunate enough to find a mentor in John A. Hague, whose intellectual integrity and boundless enthusiasm for studying the American heritage is a continuing inspiration. To all of these friends
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