Envisioning America and the American Self

Envisioning America and the American Self

Author: Scott Appelrouth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-14

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 1351607952

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This book explores the Democratic and Republican Party platforms from 1840 to 2016. As the only official, institutionally sanctioned document espousing the parties’ views on the state of the nation, the platforms present to the party faithful a diagnosis of what ails the country and the promise of possessing the necessary cure. In doing so, they offer more than a listing of specific issues in need of redress through legislative action, and moreover serve as a form of national storytelling through which political parties forge their vision of America and of what it means to be an American. Using topic modeling as an entry point into the documents, the author moves to consider more closely two related themes: those of how the platforms narrate the "American" self and individual freedom. With consideration of the extent to which the parties envision the self as an isolated economic actor or as an individual with a range of duties and obligations to a broader community, the spheres of action that they consider focal points for individual autonomy, and the extent to which they view liberty as freedom from restraint or freedom to act, this book sheds light on the historical trajectory of the growing fracture in American politics as well as the points of convergence across the two parties. Moreover, positing that behind their divisive rhetoric, both share a fundamental vision of what it means to be a "person," the author argues that perhaps their seemingly intractable differences are more a matter of degree than kind.


Book Synopsis Envisioning America and the American Self by : Scott Appelrouth

Download or read book Envisioning America and the American Self written by Scott Appelrouth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-14 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the Democratic and Republican Party platforms from 1840 to 2016. As the only official, institutionally sanctioned document espousing the parties’ views on the state of the nation, the platforms present to the party faithful a diagnosis of what ails the country and the promise of possessing the necessary cure. In doing so, they offer more than a listing of specific issues in need of redress through legislative action, and moreover serve as a form of national storytelling through which political parties forge their vision of America and of what it means to be an American. Using topic modeling as an entry point into the documents, the author moves to consider more closely two related themes: those of how the platforms narrate the "American" self and individual freedom. With consideration of the extent to which the parties envision the self as an isolated economic actor or as an individual with a range of duties and obligations to a broader community, the spheres of action that they consider focal points for individual autonomy, and the extent to which they view liberty as freedom from restraint or freedom to act, this book sheds light on the historical trajectory of the growing fracture in American politics as well as the points of convergence across the two parties. Moreover, positing that behind their divisive rhetoric, both share a fundamental vision of what it means to be a "person," the author argues that perhaps their seemingly intractable differences are more a matter of degree than kind.

Envisioning America and the American Self

Envisioning America and the American Self

Author: Scott Appelrouth

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-03-14

Total Pages: 126

ISBN-13: 1351607960

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This book explores the Democratic and Republican Party platforms from 1840 to 2016. As the only official, institutionally sanctioned document espousing the parties’ views on the state of the nation, the platforms present to the party faithful a diagnosis of what ails the country and the promise of possessing the necessary cure. In doing so, they offer more than a listing of specific issues in need of redress through legislative action, and moreover serve as a form of national storytelling through which political parties forge their vision of America and of what it means to be an American. Using topic modeling as an entry point into the documents, the author moves to consider more closely two related themes: those of how the platforms narrate the "American" self and individual freedom. With consideration of the extent to which the parties envision the self as an isolated economic actor or as an individual with a range of duties and obligations to a broader community, the spheres of action that they consider focal points for individual autonomy, and the extent to which they view liberty as freedom from restraint or freedom to act, this book sheds light on the historical trajectory of the growing fracture in American politics as well as the points of convergence across the two parties. Moreover, positing that behind their divisive rhetoric, both share a fundamental vision of what it means to be a "person," the author argues that perhaps their seemingly intractable differences are more a matter of degree than kind.


Book Synopsis Envisioning America and the American Self by : Scott Appelrouth

Download or read book Envisioning America and the American Self written by Scott Appelrouth and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-14 with total page 126 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores the Democratic and Republican Party platforms from 1840 to 2016. As the only official, institutionally sanctioned document espousing the parties’ views on the state of the nation, the platforms present to the party faithful a diagnosis of what ails the country and the promise of possessing the necessary cure. In doing so, they offer more than a listing of specific issues in need of redress through legislative action, and moreover serve as a form of national storytelling through which political parties forge their vision of America and of what it means to be an American. Using topic modeling as an entry point into the documents, the author moves to consider more closely two related themes: those of how the platforms narrate the "American" self and individual freedom. With consideration of the extent to which the parties envision the self as an isolated economic actor or as an individual with a range of duties and obligations to a broader community, the spheres of action that they consider focal points for individual autonomy, and the extent to which they view liberty as freedom from restraint or freedom to act, this book sheds light on the historical trajectory of the growing fracture in American politics as well as the points of convergence across the two parties. Moreover, positing that behind their divisive rhetoric, both share a fundamental vision of what it means to be a "person," the author argues that perhaps their seemingly intractable differences are more a matter of degree than kind.

Envisioning America

Envisioning America

Author: Tritia Toyota

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2009-10-20

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0804772827

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Envisioning America is a groundbreaking and richly detailed study of how naturalized Chinese living in Southern California become highly involved civic and political actors. Like other immigrants to the United States, their individual life stories are of survival, becoming, and belonging. But unlike any other Asian immigrant group before them, they have the resources—Western-based educations, entrepreneurial strengths, and widely based social networks in Asia—to become fully accepted in their new homes. Nevertheless, Chinese Americans are finding that their social credentials can be a double-edged sword. Their complete incorporation as citizens is bounded both by mainstream discourse in the United States, which paints them racially as perpetual foreigners, and by an existing Asian-Pacific American community not always accepting of their economic achievements and transnational ties. Their attempts at inclusion are at the heart of a vigorous struggle for recognition and political empowerment. This book challenges the notion that Asian Americans are apathetic or apolitical about civic engagement, reminding us that political involvement would often have been a life-threatening act in their homeland. The voices of Chinese Americans who tell their stories in these pages uncover the ways in which these new citizens actively embrace their American citizenship and offer a unique perspective on how global identities transplanted across borders become rooted in the local.


Book Synopsis Envisioning America by : Tritia Toyota

Download or read book Envisioning America written by Tritia Toyota and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-20 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Envisioning America is a groundbreaking and richly detailed study of how naturalized Chinese living in Southern California become highly involved civic and political actors. Like other immigrants to the United States, their individual life stories are of survival, becoming, and belonging. But unlike any other Asian immigrant group before them, they have the resources—Western-based educations, entrepreneurial strengths, and widely based social networks in Asia—to become fully accepted in their new homes. Nevertheless, Chinese Americans are finding that their social credentials can be a double-edged sword. Their complete incorporation as citizens is bounded both by mainstream discourse in the United States, which paints them racially as perpetual foreigners, and by an existing Asian-Pacific American community not always accepting of their economic achievements and transnational ties. Their attempts at inclusion are at the heart of a vigorous struggle for recognition and political empowerment. This book challenges the notion that Asian Americans are apathetic or apolitical about civic engagement, reminding us that political involvement would often have been a life-threatening act in their homeland. The voices of Chinese Americans who tell their stories in these pages uncover the ways in which these new citizens actively embrace their American citizenship and offer a unique perspective on how global identities transplanted across borders become rooted in the local.

Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture

Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture

Author: Benjamin Leontief Alpers

Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press

Published: 2003-01-01

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 9780807854167

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Focusing on portrayals of Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Russia in U.S. films, magazine and newspaper articles, books, plays, speeches, and other texts, Benjamin Alpers traces changing American understandings of dictatorship from the la


Book Synopsis Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture by : Benjamin Leontief Alpers

Download or read book Dictators, Democracy, and American Public Culture written by Benjamin Leontief Alpers and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing on portrayals of Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Russia in U.S. films, magazine and newspaper articles, books, plays, speeches, and other texts, Benjamin Alpers traces changing American understandings of dictatorship from the la

Envisioning an English Empire

Envisioning an English Empire

Author: Robert Appelbaum

Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press

Published: 2012-05-23

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0812204425

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Envisioning an English Empire brings together leading historians and literary scholars to reframe our understanding of the history of Jamestown and the literature of empire that emerged from it. The founding of an English colony at Jamestown in 1607 was no isolated incident. It was one event among many in the long development of the North Atlantic world. Ireland, Spain, Morocco, West Africa, Turkey, and the Native federations of North America all played a role alongside the Virginia Company in London and English settlers on the ground. English proponents of empire responded as much to fears of Spanish ambitions, fantasies about discovering gold, and dreams of easily dominating the region's Natives as they did to the grim lessons of earlier, failed outposts in North America. Developments in trade and technology, in diplomatic relations and ideology, in agricultural practices and property relations were as crucial as the self-consciously combative adventurers who initially set sail for the Chesapeake. The collection begins by exploring the initial encounters between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians and the relations of both these groups with London. It goes on to examine the international context that defined English colonialism in this period—relations with Spain, the Turks, North Africa, and Ireland. Finally, it turns to the ways both settlers and Natives were transformed over the course of the seventeenth century, considering conflicts and exchanges over food, property, slavery, and colonial identity. What results is a multifaceted view of the history of Jamestown up to the time of Bacon's Rebellion and its aftermath. The writings of Captain John Smith, the experience of Powhatans in London, the letters home of a disappointed indentured servant, the Moroccans, Turks, and Indians of the English stage, the ethnographic texts of early explorers, and many other phenomena all come into focus as examples of the envisioning of a nascent empire and the Atlantic world in which it found a hold.


Book Synopsis Envisioning an English Empire by : Robert Appelbaum

Download or read book Envisioning an English Empire written by Robert Appelbaum and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Envisioning an English Empire brings together leading historians and literary scholars to reframe our understanding of the history of Jamestown and the literature of empire that emerged from it. The founding of an English colony at Jamestown in 1607 was no isolated incident. It was one event among many in the long development of the North Atlantic world. Ireland, Spain, Morocco, West Africa, Turkey, and the Native federations of North America all played a role alongside the Virginia Company in London and English settlers on the ground. English proponents of empire responded as much to fears of Spanish ambitions, fantasies about discovering gold, and dreams of easily dominating the region's Natives as they did to the grim lessons of earlier, failed outposts in North America. Developments in trade and technology, in diplomatic relations and ideology, in agricultural practices and property relations were as crucial as the self-consciously combative adventurers who initially set sail for the Chesapeake. The collection begins by exploring the initial encounters between the Jamestown settlers and the Powhatan Indians and the relations of both these groups with London. It goes on to examine the international context that defined English colonialism in this period—relations with Spain, the Turks, North Africa, and Ireland. Finally, it turns to the ways both settlers and Natives were transformed over the course of the seventeenth century, considering conflicts and exchanges over food, property, slavery, and colonial identity. What results is a multifaceted view of the history of Jamestown up to the time of Bacon's Rebellion and its aftermath. The writings of Captain John Smith, the experience of Powhatans in London, the letters home of a disappointed indentured servant, the Moroccans, Turks, and Indians of the English stage, the ethnographic texts of early explorers, and many other phenomena all come into focus as examples of the envisioning of a nascent empire and the Atlantic world in which it found a hold.

Who Cares

Who Cares

Author: Christopher Howard

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2022-10-25

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 0190074450

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"Societies are often judged by how they treat their most vulnerable members. In the United States, that responsibility belongs not only to governments, but also to charities, businesses, individuals, and family members. Their combined efforts generate a social safety net. Many academics and journalists have studied discrete pieces of this net. However, it is still hard to see larger patterns and learn general lessons. Who Cares pulls these pieces together to offer the first comprehensive map of the U.S. social safety net. The central theme of the book is care. Part I describes how much we care about people in need as well as who we think should take care of them. Individual chapters capture the views of ordinary citizens, business and labor organizations, churches and other charities, and public officials. The emphasis in Part II is on tangible acts of caring. Who pays for government programs and charitable services? Who are the most important caregivers, public and private? How adequate is the care that people receive? Each chapter answers these questions for specific human needs-income, food, housing, medical care, and daily care. Although the U.S. social safety net is extensive, major gaps remain. Blacks, Hispanics, and individuals who are not employed full-time are more likely to suffer. These problems exist even when the economy seems healthy; Who Cares is based heavily on evidence from the years right before the COVID-19 pandemic. The postscript offers an initial assessment of how the social safety net performed during the pandemic"--


Book Synopsis Who Cares by : Christopher Howard

Download or read book Who Cares written by Christopher Howard and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Societies are often judged by how they treat their most vulnerable members. In the United States, that responsibility belongs not only to governments, but also to charities, businesses, individuals, and family members. Their combined efforts generate a social safety net. Many academics and journalists have studied discrete pieces of this net. However, it is still hard to see larger patterns and learn general lessons. Who Cares pulls these pieces together to offer the first comprehensive map of the U.S. social safety net. The central theme of the book is care. Part I describes how much we care about people in need as well as who we think should take care of them. Individual chapters capture the views of ordinary citizens, business and labor organizations, churches and other charities, and public officials. The emphasis in Part II is on tangible acts of caring. Who pays for government programs and charitable services? Who are the most important caregivers, public and private? How adequate is the care that people receive? Each chapter answers these questions for specific human needs-income, food, housing, medical care, and daily care. Although the U.S. social safety net is extensive, major gaps remain. Blacks, Hispanics, and individuals who are not employed full-time are more likely to suffer. These problems exist even when the economy seems healthy; Who Cares is based heavily on evidence from the years right before the COVID-19 pandemic. The postscript offers an initial assessment of how the social safety net performed during the pandemic"--

Aiding Ireland

Aiding Ireland

Author: Anelise Hanson Shrout

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2024-01-16

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 1479824593

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"Aiding Ireland charts the ways that people around the North Atlantic used Irish famine relief in the 1840s to advance their own political agendas"--


Book Synopsis Aiding Ireland by : Anelise Hanson Shrout

Download or read book Aiding Ireland written by Anelise Hanson Shrout and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2024-01-16 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Aiding Ireland charts the ways that people around the North Atlantic used Irish famine relief in the 1840s to advance their own political agendas"--

Envisioning America

Envisioning America

Author: Peter C. Mancall

Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Published: 2016-09-02

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781319048907

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Through a collection of documents and a revised introduction that incorporates updates in scholarship over the past two decades, particularly on the north and environmental history, Peter C. Mancall gives twenty-first century readers a glimpse of the time when the possibility of colonizing North America was anything but certain. Pamphlets, accounts, and engravings from the late-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century capture the process of English colonization from its origins in promotional propaganda to its realization on the shores of North America. New to this edition is Ferdinando Gorges' A briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England, which extends the geographical range of this collection and reminds readers of the difficulties the English experienced in new regions. An updated chronology and bibliography, along with new Questions for Consideration, further aid students' understanding of this compelling topic. Book jacket.


Book Synopsis Envisioning America by : Peter C. Mancall

Download or read book Envisioning America written by Peter C. Mancall and published by Bedford/St. Martin's. This book was released on 2016-09-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Through a collection of documents and a revised introduction that incorporates updates in scholarship over the past two decades, particularly on the north and environmental history, Peter C. Mancall gives twenty-first century readers a glimpse of the time when the possibility of colonizing North America was anything but certain. Pamphlets, accounts, and engravings from the late-sixteenth to the mid-seventeenth century capture the process of English colonization from its origins in promotional propaganda to its realization on the shores of North America. New to this edition is Ferdinando Gorges' A briefe Relation of the Discovery and Plantation of New England, which extends the geographical range of this collection and reminds readers of the difficulties the English experienced in new regions. An updated chronology and bibliography, along with new Questions for Consideration, further aid students' understanding of this compelling topic. Book jacket.

America

America

Author: Dinesh D'Souza

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2014-06-02

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 1621572285

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#1 New York Times Bestseller Is America a source of pride, as Americans have long held, or shame, as Progressives allege? Beneath an innocent exterior, are our lives complicit in a national project of theft, expropriation, oppression, and murder, or is America still the hope of the world? Dinesh D'Souza says these questions are no mere academic exercise. It is the Progressive view that is taught in our schools, that is preached by Hollywood, and that shapes the policies of the Obama administration. If America is a force for inequality and injustice in the world, its power deserves to be diminished; if traditional America is based on oppression and theft, then traditional America must be reformed—and the federal government can do the reforming. In America: Imagine a World without Her D'Souza offers a passionate and sharply reasoned defense of America, knocking down every important accusation made by Progressives against our country. Provocative in its analysis, stunning in its conclusions, Dinesh D'Souza's America is a new classic.


Book Synopsis America by : Dinesh D'Souza

Download or read book America written by Dinesh D'Souza and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-02 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 New York Times Bestseller Is America a source of pride, as Americans have long held, or shame, as Progressives allege? Beneath an innocent exterior, are our lives complicit in a national project of theft, expropriation, oppression, and murder, or is America still the hope of the world? Dinesh D'Souza says these questions are no mere academic exercise. It is the Progressive view that is taught in our schools, that is preached by Hollywood, and that shapes the policies of the Obama administration. If America is a force for inequality and injustice in the world, its power deserves to be diminished; if traditional America is based on oppression and theft, then traditional America must be reformed—and the federal government can do the reforming. In America: Imagine a World without Her D'Souza offers a passionate and sharply reasoned defense of America, knocking down every important accusation made by Progressives against our country. Provocative in its analysis, stunning in its conclusions, Dinesh D'Souza's America is a new classic.

Time No Longer

Time No Longer

Author: Patrick Smith

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2013-05-21

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 030019529X

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DIV Americans cherish their national myths, some of which predate the country’s founding. But the time for illusions, nostalgia, and grand ambition abroad has gone by, Patrick Smith observes in this original book. Americans are now faced with a choice between a mythical idea of themselves, their nation, and their global “mission,” on the one hand, and on the other an idea of America that is rooted in historical consciousness. To cling to old myths will ensure America’s decline, Smith warns. He demonstrates with deep historical insight why a fundamentally new perspective and self-image are essential if the United States is to find its place in the twenty-first century. In four illuminating essays, Smith discusses America’s unusual (and dysfunctional) relation with history; the Spanish-American War and the roots of American imperial ambition; the Cold War years and the effects of fear and power on the American psyche; and the uneasy years from 9/11 to the present. Providing a new perspective on our nation’s current dilemmas, Smith also offers hope for change through an embrace of authentic history. /div


Book Synopsis Time No Longer by : Patrick Smith

Download or read book Time No Longer written by Patrick Smith and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-21 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DIV Americans cherish their national myths, some of which predate the country’s founding. But the time for illusions, nostalgia, and grand ambition abroad has gone by, Patrick Smith observes in this original book. Americans are now faced with a choice between a mythical idea of themselves, their nation, and their global “mission,” on the one hand, and on the other an idea of America that is rooted in historical consciousness. To cling to old myths will ensure America’s decline, Smith warns. He demonstrates with deep historical insight why a fundamentally new perspective and self-image are essential if the United States is to find its place in the twenty-first century. In four illuminating essays, Smith discusses America’s unusual (and dysfunctional) relation with history; the Spanish-American War and the roots of American imperial ambition; the Cold War years and the effects of fear and power on the American psyche; and the uneasy years from 9/11 to the present. Providing a new perspective on our nation’s current dilemmas, Smith also offers hope for change through an embrace of authentic history. /div