SOURCE: "Carl Becker, Skeptic or Humanist?," in The Journal of Modern History, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, June, 1946, pp. 160-62.

In the following essay, Gottschalk argues that Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life, Becker's final work, shows his lifelong cynicism to be tempered with optimism.

In several ways [Carl Becker's final work, Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life] resembles his How New Will the Better World Be? (1944). Indeed, as the author's preface indicates, parts of it are borrowed from the earlier work. The essential difference between them is in the focus of attention. Whereas How New Will the Better World Be? was concerned with international affairs and world organization, Freedom and Responsibility in the American Way of Life deals with United States problems and domestic reform.

In both books Becker, as becomes a historian, reveals a wholesome respect for the principle of continuity in...