The American Revelation
Ten Ideals That Shaped Our Country from the Puritans to the Cold War
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Neil Baldwin, one of the most exciting intellectual historians, has written extensively about the great thinkers and innovators who have shaped our unique American identity. In THE AMERICAN REVELATION, he turns his energies to the unfolding story of how the American spirit developed over 400 years.
This inspiring examination of the ideals that have grown to inform our national identity and of the figures who set the course for our evolving self image covers:
City on a Hill--John Winthrop--1630
Common Sense--Thomas Paine--1776
E pluribus unum--Pierre-Eugene Du Simitiere--1776
Self Reliance--Ralph Waldo Emerson--1841
Manifest Destiny--John L. O'Sullivan--1845
Progress and Poverty--Henry George--1879
The Sphere of Action--Jane Addams--1902
The Melting Pot--Israel Zangwill--1908
The Negro in Our History--Carter Woodson--1922
The Marshall Plan--George C. Marshall--1947
Neil Baldwin writes of figures both familiar and forgotten in this work of popular history that seeks to illuminate and enliven the current debate about American's role in the world. Meticulously researched and entertainingly written, THE AMERICAN REVELATION will make all U.S. readers, regardless of their politics, be proud of our country's intellectual heritage and high-minded values and will reassert those ideals to the rest of the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Given the polarization of contemporary America, says historian and former National Book Foundation executive director Baldwin, "we need to turn to galvanizing beliefs that will provide a unifying focus...." To this end, Baldwin ably investigates 10 key precepts of what might be called "fundamental Americanism," while at the same time highlighting iconic Americans who helped to define and articulate those precepts. Here we have biographical sketches of early Massachusetts governor John Winthrop, who offered the idea of a "city on a hill"; Thomas Paine's Common Sense; Pierre Du Simiti re's notion of "E pluribus unum"; Emerson's vision of self-reliance; John L. O'Sullivan's concept of manifest destiny and, of more recent vintage, the enlightened generosity embodied in the post-WWII Marshall Plan. But in whittling these down to the arbitrary number of 10, Baldwin necessarily leaves out a great deal. Any collection such as this desperately needs Abraham Lincoln's soaring poetry regarding government "of the people, by the people, for the people," and a nod to the Declaration of Independence and JFK's inaugural speech, among other key rhetorical pillars of the American experiment.
