Reaction
Upon its publishing, Drift and Mastery received enthusiastic reviews. The New York Times called it "a brilliant production, both in style and content." Leaders of the progressive movement hailed Drift and Mastery both for its content and literary style. Theodore Roosevelt, who had met and consulted with Lippmann during the writing, said that "No man who wishes seriously to study our present social, industrial and political life can afford not to read it through and through and ponder and digest it." Similarly effusive praise came from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. who said that the book was "devilishly well-written . . . altogether a delightful fresh piece of writing and thinking."
Outside the community of progressives and reformers, reactions to Drift and Mastery were more mixed. The religious community criticized Lippmann's rejection of traditional values and dismissal of contemporary religion. These religious commentators specifically criticized both Lippmann's implicit break with religious teachings and his self-assured tone. A small minority of reviewers criticized Lippmann for his reliance on the power of science, accusing him of a dogmatic adherence to experts over "the people." Common to these criticisms was a sense that Lippmann was premature in pronouncing the death of old institutions and ideas. Although Lippmann had captured the feeling of dynamism in the reform movement of his time, many arguably severely underestimated the durability of the old order.
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Famous quotes containing the word reaction:
“In contrast to revenge, which is the natural, automatic reaction to transgression and which, because of the irreversibility of the action process can be expected and even calculated, the act of forgiving can never be predicted; it is the only reaction that acts in an unexpected way and thus retains, though being a reaction, something of the original character of action.”
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“Children, randomly at first, hit upon something sooner or later that is their mother’s and/or father’s Achilles’ heel, a kind of behavior that especially upsets, offends, irritates or embarrasses them. One parent dislikes name-calling, another teasing...another bathroom jokes. For the parents, this behavior my have ties back to their childhood, many have been something not allowed, forbidden, and when it appears in the child, it causes high-voltage reaction in the parent.”
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“Sole and self-commanded works,
Fears not undermining days,
Grows by decays,
And, by the famous might that lurks
In reaction and recoil,
Makes flames to freeze, and ice to boil.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)