In this historical study, the author offers a reading of Dewey's "Democracy and Education" in the context of the two other books Dewey published the year before, German "Philosophy and Politics" and his coauthored "Schools of To-morrow." Having published three books in two years, "Democracy and Education" arrived at the end of one of Dewey's most prolific periods. Through these three texts, Dewey offered a pointed critique of authoritarian German politics, philosophy, and schooling and crafted an innovative pedagogy grounded in progressive democratic ideals as contrast. Using Germany as a clear and present foil, Dewey clarified his ideas on American democratic and pedagogical ideals in the context of World War I.