The editors of Studies in American Political Development and my three distinguished fellow contributors to this symposium have done me great honor by devoting so much attention to Civic Ideals. Their favorable remarks are much appreciated. Indeed, Carey McWilliams's final paragraphs capture what I was trying to do far more eloquently than I did, and I confess to having been quite moved by them. But I will focus here on the reviewers' searching criticisms, for those highlight both what I perceive as some important misunderstandings of the book's argument (for which I bear significant responsibility) and some real difficulties that I, too, see as unresolved in the work.