This book provides a new perspective on Coolidge as a "Burkean Americanist" who sought to defend traditional values and greatness against the Progressive Era reforms. Tacoma traces the intellectual influences on Coolidge back to his professors at Amherst college, where he developed a political philosophy bearing similarities to that of Edmund Burke, especially in his reverence for the wisdom of tradition and history. Tacoma’s Coolidge is no mere apologist for capitalism, but one who saw the establishment of the US Constitution as an important historical moment for personal freedom and progress, which he felt early 20th-century reforms were destroying. The book draws heavily on Coolidge’s own writings and Tacoma's original research, locating his subject within the conservative tradition. This volume will be a good choice for collections on US presidents, politics, and political thought. Recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Thomas Tacoma’s outstanding new work on Coolidge shows us the importance of the turn of the twentieth century to the legacy of American politics and political thought today, as Coolidge wrestled with the influence of progressivism on America’s original constitutional principles. The book’s conclusions are original and provocative, backed by the kind of exhaustive research of the original record from all phases of Coolidge’s life that I have not seen elsewhere. Moreover, the entire work is written with an elegance and clarity that will make it a pleasure to read for scholar and citizen alike. Without question this work will be the standard on Coolidge’s political thought.
— Ronald J. Pestritto, author of Woodrow Wilson and the Roots of Modern Liberalism and America Transformed: The Rise and Legacy of American Progressivism, Hillsdale College
At last we have a careful study of Calvin Coolidge’s thought that takes seriously the man and his ideas. Thomas Tacoma gives us Coolidge as he understood himself, showing how he related to the inheritance of Western civilization and how he upheld the principles of American constitutionalism amid the onslaught of Progressivism. This book deserves to become the standard reference for understanding Coolidge’s political thought and its place in the history of American conservatism.
— Johnathan O'Neill, Georgia Southern University
Thomas Tacoma’s study of Coolidge promises to change the way we look at this woefully neglected yet important president. He challenges both conservative and progressive interpretations of Coolidge’s ideas. This is the most carefully researched intellectual biography of Coolidge to date and will be a benchmark for all future scholarship on Coolidge.
— Joseph Postell, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
This is an exceptionally able work of history and political theory. Tacoma has added many significant insights into the political career of Calvin Coolidge. He has given scholars much to ponder, and his admirable prose will attract all general readers.
— Paul Moreno, Hillsdale College