American exceptionalism

Author / Creator

Depkat, Volker, 1965- author

Available as

Physical

Summary

"In engaging and lucid prose, Volker Depkat offers general readers and students of American history an invaluable lens through which they can evaluate for themselves the merits of the many ways in ...

"In engaging and lucid prose, Volker Depkat offers general readers and students of American history an invaluable lens through which they can evaluate for themselves the merits of the many ways in which Americans have understood their country as exceptional"--

The idea that America is exceptional, whether because of its founding creed, natural abundance, or Protestant origins, has been fiercely debated since the nation's founding. Volker Depkat explores the diverse ways in which Americans have described their country as exceptional. Describing how narratives of exceptionalism have never been a purely American affair, Depkat shows how European, African, and Asian immigrants projected their own dreams and nightmares onto the American screen, contributing to the intellectual construction of America. These different groups living in America have described exceptionalism in such differing terms that there has hardly ever been a shared understanding as to what these exceptional experiences were and how to interpret them. What has unified the disparate exceptionalist narratives is their insistence on America's universalist and future-oriented way of life. In engaging and lucid prose, Depkat offers general readers and students of American history an invaluable lens through which they can evaluate the merits of the ways in which Americans have understood their country as exceptional--back cover.

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