It is being slowly, but surely, engraved upon the minds and souls of men that years of unexampled industrial productivity and of the accumulation of great wealth are not bringing, and have not brought, happiness to mankind. On the contrary, we are seeing poverty, distress, perplexity, and crime following in the wake of economic prosperity, and the faith of the materialist in gold and silver as the bulwark of a nation is not so strong.
-from "When Money Is King and Business Our God"

Edward Bok wielded enormous influence during his three-decade tenure as editor of the Ladies Home Journal, a pulpit from which he advocated numerous progressive causes, from women's suffrage and environmental preservation to public sex education and pacifism.

Here, in this 1926 book, he issues a passionate call for a new ideal of service to humanity as the foundation upon which our society should be built, a call that still impresses today, in an era of war and natural catastrophe that warrants a concerted national response.

Anyone who has felt the urge toward public service will take heart from this inspiring work.

Also available from Cosimo Classics: Bok's autobiography, The Americanization of Edward Bok.

American Pulitzer Prize-winning author EDWARD W. BOK (1863-1930) also wrote Successward and America Give Me a Chance, among other books.