Publisher's Synopsis
This book demonstrates the continued vitality of liberal ideas in Britain during a period which saw first the revival and then the decline of the Liberal Party. Through a study of five major writers - the sociologist L.T. Hobhouse, the economist J.A. Hobson, the political scientist Graham Wallas and the historians J.L. and Barbara Hammond - it examines the way that liberal and social democratic ideas achieved a new synthesis in the early 20th century. These "moral reformists" provide an interesting counterpoint to the Fabian socialists.