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Synopsis
"A Preface to Politics (1913) was the first book of political commentary published by Walter Lippmann, one of the most widely read and influential journalists of the twentieth century. A prevailing theme is that successful politicians know how to tap into public needs and articulate the concerns of the common man. The inherent logic and intellectual respectability of any particular policy are less important, Lippmann says, than its ability to arouse the emotions and express the deep feelings of a constituency." Lippmann also comments extensively on socialism, a rising political force in the beginning of the twentieth century. Though he felt some sympathy with the socialist cause in this early work, he astutely points out its many weaknesses.