---
title: A Preface to Politics
url: https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/
description: A Preface to Politics by Walter Lippmann (1914), full text with provenance and rights.
section: FRAME
---

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[Library](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/) · Book

# A Preface to Politics

At a glance

Lippmann's first book (1914), on politics as the management of human impulses rather than the enforcement of rules.

- **Author:** Walter Lippmann
- **Published:** 1914
- **Origin:** United States
- **Length:** 66,921 words, 10 chapters

Full details

- **Edition:** A Preface to Politics. New York and London: Mitchell Kennerley, 1914 (Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription)
- **Language:** English
- **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #20125](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20125)
- **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders.
- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1914 (the title page is dated 1914), so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. Lippmann died in 1974, so a life-plus-70 term still runs in some other countries.
- **Rights checked:** October 2, 2026

On this page

- [Read the text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/#read)
- [Provenance and rights](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/#provenance)
- [Related](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/#related)

Walter Lippmann's first book, published in 1914, which discusses Graham Wallas among others and argues that politics should deal with human impulses and habits, not only with laws and rules. It is the earliest of the Lippmann texts in the Library, eight years before *Public Opinion*, and is here in full: an introduction and nine chapters.

## Read the text

- [Introduction](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/01-introduction/) 1,196 words
- [1. Routineer and Inventor](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/02-routineer-and-inventor/) 6,807 words
- [2. The Taboo](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/03-the-taboo/) 3,800 words
- [3. The Changing Focus](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/04-the-changing-focus/) 6,826 words
- [4. The Golden Rule and After](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/05-the-golden-rule-and-after/) 7,595 words
- [5. Well Meaning but Unmeaning: the Chicago Vice Report](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/06-well-meaning-but-unmeaning-the-chicago-vice-repo/) 7,458 words
- [6. Some Necessary Iconoclasm](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/07-some-necessary-iconoclasm/) 9,154 words
- [7. The Making of Creeds](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/08-the-making-of-creeds/) 8,914 words
- [8. The Red Herring](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/09-the-red-herring/) 5,370 words
- [9. Revolution and Culture](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/10-revolution-and-culture/) 9,801 words

[Download as plain text](https://propagandaarchive.org/library/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914/lippmann-preface-to-politics-1914.txt) 66,921 words, with the provenance header above the text

## Provenance and rights

- **Edition:** A Preface to Politics. New York and London: Mitchell Kennerley, 1914 (Project Gutenberg's proofread transcription)
- **Text source:** [Project Gutenberg, ebook #20125](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20125)
- **Text basis:** Proofread transcription by Project Gutenberg's Distributed Proofreaders.
- **Rights:** Published in the United States in 1914 (the title page is dated 1914), so in the public domain in the United States (published before 1931); Project Gutenberg marks the ebook public domain in the USA. Lippmann died in 1974, so a life-plus-70 term still runs in some other countries. Checked October 2, 2026.
- **Changes made:** Line wraps rejoined and headings set in title case; the Project Gutenberg licence header and footer removed. Wording, spelling and punctuation are the source's own. The contents list is left out. The proofreaders' credit line is not in the text.
- **Source file checksum:** `6526c2db4ad689d4…` (SHA-256 of the download this text was made from)

## Related

- [Walter Lippmann, Public Opinion (1922)](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/lippmann-public-opinion/)