A Book Review on:
The American Mind
An Interpretation of American Thought and Character since 1880's
By: Henry Steele Commager
Details:
Paperback: 487 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1959)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0300000464
ISBN-13: 978-0300000467
The American Mind
An Interpretation of American Thought and Character since 1880's
By: Henry Steele Commager
Details:
Paperback: 487 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press (September 10, 1959)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0300000464
ISBN-13: 978-0300000467
Reviewed By: Fatemeh Azimzadeh
Zeinab Ghasemi Tari
Zeinab Ghasemi Tari
About the Author: Henry Steele Commager was born in 1902 in Pennsylvania. He studied at the University of Chicago. By the time he was 28, he got his PhD on the Danish philosopher and reformer Johann Struensee. After a while he changed his research field and interest concentrating on American history. He was also a co-author of some American historical books.
One of his most significant books was written in 1950, a monograph, The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and character since the 1880's. He was an intellectual and cultural historian but also he had some work in the fields of constitutional and political history. He believed that historians must consider a wider audience as well as specialists on history.
Commager died in 1998 at age 95 of pneumonia.
Review and Criticism:
Henry Steele Commager uses the work of philosophers, clergymen, novelist, poets, journalist, sociologist and politician theorists and their interpretation to interpret the American mind. As the recitation of Santayana in the beginning of the book says "to be an American is itself almost a moral condition, an education, and a career." The American mind was written after the Second World War, the blooming years of American power and influence politically, culturally and even ideologically across the world; Commager himself believed in America's role as a great democracy model which preserved the future of the world and that started by joining the World War II against Nazi Germany and as a result the U.S. was the unique super power before the cold war. So, the American mind was framed in such a way to fulfill the American dream which was both believable and achievable.
American dream was important to Henry Steele Commager as the core of the book. American dream puts emphasis on United States as a special nation which is chosen by God and has a special mission to accomplish. This term generally can be defined as existence of opportunity and freedom for all citizens to achieve their goals and become wealthy and successful by their individual hard work; so class, caste, race or ethnicity are not considered as obstacles in the process of progress. The majority of the book is a description of cultural transformation and development of late 19th to early 20th century especially about how pragmatism developed in America. Commager's thesis is that American's motto is pragmatism which is based on DeTocqueville's emphasis on American practicality compared to European's abstractions. The thinkers who believe on pragmatism consider practical consequences or real effect to be vital components of both meaning and truth. The book also focuses on scientific and political aspect and reactions to social Darwinism.
Commager writes "American thought owes so much to English and European though and I have attempted to distinguish what are its American forms, characteristics, idioms and idiosyncrasies. In a sense this book is study in comparative culture and history." Then having a lot in common and while the origins are the same, the comparison of the American and European history leads to highlighting what Commager mentioned as the American character of the quoted ones. Commager thought American character and trait is flexible and more adaptable compared to Europeans.
In his book Commager elaborates that the decade of 1890 is the watershed in U.S. moral, economical and intellectual history; in this period some old certainties began to break down by the fast move of science and the creation of new philosophies.
The weak points of the book are that the writer tries to cover social, economic and literary issues of the mentioned era in relatively hurried way and moves rapidly to other fields. The subjects covered in this book are scattered and could be better organized. The terminology used in this book needs more explanation and some concepts remain ambiguous and needs more clarification. Another important point is lack of an introduction and conclusion which discourages the reader, especially for such a thick book (476 pages) which requires providing the reader with a short and comprehensive frame. Despite the shortcomings and faults, the book provides the reader with information about pragmatism, social Darwinism and American radicalism and literary movement.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steele_Commager
http://www.rinr.fsu.edu/fallwinter99/features/commager.html
http://www.commager.org
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Commager.html
One of his most significant books was written in 1950, a monograph, The American Mind: An Interpretation of American Thought and character since the 1880's. He was an intellectual and cultural historian but also he had some work in the fields of constitutional and political history. He believed that historians must consider a wider audience as well as specialists on history.
Commager died in 1998 at age 95 of pneumonia.
Review and Criticism:
Henry Steele Commager uses the work of philosophers, clergymen, novelist, poets, journalist, sociologist and politician theorists and their interpretation to interpret the American mind. As the recitation of Santayana in the beginning of the book says "to be an American is itself almost a moral condition, an education, and a career." The American mind was written after the Second World War, the blooming years of American power and influence politically, culturally and even ideologically across the world; Commager himself believed in America's role as a great democracy model which preserved the future of the world and that started by joining the World War II against Nazi Germany and as a result the U.S. was the unique super power before the cold war. So, the American mind was framed in such a way to fulfill the American dream which was both believable and achievable.
American dream was important to Henry Steele Commager as the core of the book. American dream puts emphasis on United States as a special nation which is chosen by God and has a special mission to accomplish. This term generally can be defined as existence of opportunity and freedom for all citizens to achieve their goals and become wealthy and successful by their individual hard work; so class, caste, race or ethnicity are not considered as obstacles in the process of progress. The majority of the book is a description of cultural transformation and development of late 19th to early 20th century especially about how pragmatism developed in America. Commager's thesis is that American's motto is pragmatism which is based on DeTocqueville's emphasis on American practicality compared to European's abstractions. The thinkers who believe on pragmatism consider practical consequences or real effect to be vital components of both meaning and truth. The book also focuses on scientific and political aspect and reactions to social Darwinism.
Commager writes "American thought owes so much to English and European though and I have attempted to distinguish what are its American forms, characteristics, idioms and idiosyncrasies. In a sense this book is study in comparative culture and history." Then having a lot in common and while the origins are the same, the comparison of the American and European history leads to highlighting what Commager mentioned as the American character of the quoted ones. Commager thought American character and trait is flexible and more adaptable compared to Europeans.
In his book Commager elaborates that the decade of 1890 is the watershed in U.S. moral, economical and intellectual history; in this period some old certainties began to break down by the fast move of science and the creation of new philosophies.
The weak points of the book are that the writer tries to cover social, economic and literary issues of the mentioned era in relatively hurried way and moves rapidly to other fields. The subjects covered in this book are scattered and could be better organized. The terminology used in this book needs more explanation and some concepts remain ambiguous and needs more clarification. Another important point is lack of an introduction and conclusion which discourages the reader, especially for such a thick book (476 pages) which requires providing the reader with a short and comprehensive frame. Despite the shortcomings and faults, the book provides the reader with information about pragmatism, social Darwinism and American radicalism and literary movement.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steele_Commager
http://www.rinr.fsu.edu/fallwinter99/features/commager.html
http://www.commager.org
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Commager.html
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