"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

"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