Read complete books and articles on: American Exceptionalism

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13 of the Best Books and Articles on: American Exceptionalism

as selected by Questia librarians

1.

Still the Exceptional Nation?, in The Wilson Quarterly » Read Now
by Seymour Martin Lipset. 15 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
2.

Foreword: on American Exceptionalism, in Stanford Law Review » Read Now
by Harold Hongju Koh. 49 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
3.

We the Exceptional American People, in Constitutional Commentary » Read Now
by James E. Fleming. 24 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
4.

In the Past lane: Historical Perspectives on American Culture (Chap. 7 "The Problem of American Exceptionalism: A Reconsideration") » Read Now
by Michael Kammen. 279 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his People of Paradox (1973), and the Francis Parkman Prize for A Machine That Would Go of Itself (1987), Michael Kammen is widely regarded as one of our most important, and most diversely talented, cultural historians. David Brion Davis has said of him that "no other...
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Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his People of Paradox (1973), and the Francis Parkman Prize for A Machine That Would Go of Itself (1987), Michael Kammen is widely regarded as one of our most important, and most diversely talented, cultural historians. David Brion Davis has said of him that "no other historian of Michael's generation has such a broad and concrete grasp of 'American culture' in all its manifestations from constitutional law to formal painting and popular culture." Now, In The Past Lane brings together writings from a span of more than a decade, covering the broad spectrum of Kammen's recent interests, including the role of the historian, the relationship between culture and the State, uses of tradition in American commercial culture, American historical art, memory distortion in American history, and the contested uses of history in American education, and much more. Here are major contributions to Kammen's work and to American cultural history. In the previously unpublished "Personal Identity and the Historian's Vocation," Kammen considers the complex interplay between historians' personal lives--their religion, ideology, race, gender, sexual orientation--and the history they write. Drawing on prominent historians' own self-reflections, in fascinating letters and memoirs, Kammen takes us inside the process of doing history and traces the movement away from delusions of objectivity to a more engaged and personal approach to the past. We find a lively exchange between David M. Potter and Richard Hofstadter, a personal account of a highly dramatic public debate between Arnold J. Toynbee and Allan Nevins, as well as delightful quotes from many important historians about their work, their beliefs, and their colleagues. We have, for example, Lewis Mumford at Christmas time informing a friend that he was using "the season of peace and cheer and goodwill to begin a murderous attack upon Mr. Bernard DeVoto, and Allan Nevins wryly recommending his multi-volume Civil War history, The Ordeal of the Union, as an ideal wedding present. In "Culture and the State in America," Kammen gives us an illuminating history of government funding for the arts which provides a surprising perspective on the current crises involving the NEA and NEH. He marshals his deep historical knowledge to argue that an elimination of public support will lead to an even greater loss of private support for the arts and humanities, and that the results will impoverish us all. Kammen addresses a range of other concerns in these essays, including the distinction between heritage and history, how multicultural art exhibits are developed, memory distortion in American history. Whether he's warning against historical amnesia, analyzing the iconography of judgment in American courthouses, considering American diversity, or reconsidering the issue of American exceptionalism, Kammen's remarkable essays show us the many ways the past informs, eludes, and yet gives birth to the present.
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5.

American Political Cultures (Chap. 3 "Rival Visions of Equality: Process Versus Results") » Read Now
by Richard J. Ellis. 247 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library

This work challenges the thesis first formulated by de Tocqueville and later systematically developed by Louis Hartz, that American political culture is characterized by a consensus on liberal capitalist values. Ranging over three hundred years of history and drawing upon the seminal work...
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This work challenges the thesis first formulated by de Tocqueville and later systematically developed by Louis Hartz, that American political culture is characterized by a consensus on liberal capitalist values. Ranging over three hundred years of history and drawing upon the seminal work anthropologist Mary Douglas, Richard Ellis demonstrates that American history is best understood as a contest between five rival political cultures: egalitarian community, competitive individualism, hierarchical collectivism, atomized fatalism, and autonomous hermitude.
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6.

The Dynamics of American Politics: Approaches and Interpretations (Chap. 5 "American Exceptionalism Reconsidered: Culture or Institutions?") » Read Now
by Lawrence C. Dodd, Calvin Jillson. 451 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
7.

The Challenge to U.S. Policy in the Third World: Global Responsibilities and Regional Devolution (Chap. 1 "The Twilight of American Exceptionalism") » Read Now
by Thomas Perry Thornton. 175 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
8.

Presidential Campaigns and American Self Images (Chap. 12 "American Exceptionalism and the Quadrennial Peak in Optimism") » Read Now
by Arthur H. Miller, Bruce E. Gronbeck. 308 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
9.

Manufacturing Rationality: The Engineering Foundations of the Managerial Revolution (Chap. 5 "Engineers, Labor Politics, and American Exceptionalism Before 1900") » Read Now
by Yehouda Shenhav. 247 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library

Management is a powerful mode of thought and code of conduct in the modern world, closely associated with the American way and a natural extension of economic progress. This is a book about the history of management and the origin of managerial rationality in the United States.
10.

American Communism and Soviet Russia: The Formative Period (Chap. 12 "American Exceptionalism") » Read Now
by Theodore Draper. 558 pgs.

Collections: History, Entire Library
11.

Why There Is A Culture War, in Policy Review » Read Now
by John Fonte. 18 pgs.

Collections: Entire Library
12.

Thorstein Veblen's Views on American "Exceptionalism": An Interpretation, in Journal of Economic Issues » Read Now
by Rick Tilman. 28 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library
13.

On America's Double Standard: The Good and Bad Faces of Exceptionalism, in The American Prospect » Read Now
by Harold Hongju Koh. 4 pgs.

Collections: Philosophy, Entire Library