Let’s start (and for today, end) with Gunnar Myrdal’s An American Dilemma, published in 1944. A 1024 pages of text, 120 pages of appendixes, a 36 page bibliography, 258 pages of footnotes, and a comprehensive index, all on the “Negro problem” by a Swedish sociologist and economist, sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation. American democratic ideals vs. the reality of the treatment of the Negro.
“The rationalism and moralism which is the driving force behind social study, whether we admit it or not, is the faith that institutions can be improved and strengthened and that people are good enough to live a happier life. With all we know today, there should be the possibility to build a nation and a world where people’s great propensities for sympathy and cooperation would not be thwarted.
“To find the practical formulas for this never-ending reconstruction of society is the supreme task of social science. The world catastrophe [WW II} places tremendous difficulties in our way and may shake our confidence to the depths. Yet we have today in social science a greater trust in the improvability of man and society than we have ever had since the Enlightenment”.
We have a first edition for sale, which is relatively hard to find in good condition. If you are interested in buying an important book you probably won’t read, just let me know.
