A rich and rewarding subject of popular imagination, the United States is compellingly portrayed in this first anthology designed specifically for American studies courses. Offering an indispensable introduction to the long and varied history of generalizing about America, leading scholar Richard Horwitz has compiled the definitive anthology for American studies and American culture courses. Brimming with imaginative selections, the reader contains essays, plays, songs, comedy, legal documents, speeches, and poems by a rich array of authors-both domestic and international-whose writings echo recurring American themes. Collectively, the anthology identifies the ways in which scholars and popularizers have attempted to characterize America. Horwitz's insightful introduction summarizes key themes in the study of American culture as he traces the history of the field as well as current controversies. He avoids heavy jargon yet presents a nuanced view of the foundational works in American studies. Preceding the readings with concise, informative introductions, Horwitz seamlessly guides the reader through this distinctive collection.
Chapter 1 Introduction Part 2 I America as a New World Chapter 3 How America Was Discovered (c. 1735-1815) Chapter 4 The Tempest (1611) Chapter 5 A Model of Christian Charity (1630) Chapter 6 Engel v. Vitale (1962) Chapter 7 Letter III from an American Farmer (1782) Chapter 8 To the United States (1827) Chapter 9 Paddy's Lament (ca. 1865) Chapter 10 The Spirit of Capitalism (1904) Chapter 11 On Being an American (1922) Part 12 II America as an Independent Nation Chapter 13 Declaration of Independence (1776) Chapter 14 Declaration of Sentiments (1848) Chapter 15 Independence Day Speech (1854) Chapter 16 The Significance of the Frontier in American History (1893) Chapter 17 Vietnam's Declaration of Independence (1945) Chapter 18 Independence Day (1993) Chapter 19 What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? (1852) Part 20 III America as a Place to Belong Chapter 21 Americanism and the Foreign-Born (1915) Chapter 22 Objections Answered (1913) Chapter 23 Ain't I a Woman? (1851) Chapter 24 Trans-National America (1916) Chapter 25 Americanism (1919) Chapter 26 Century Readings (1919) Chapter 27 The One-Hundred Percent American (1937) Chapter 28 National Brotherhood Week (1965) Chapter 29 America (1953) Chapter 30 This Land is Your Land (1949) Part 31 IV America as a Land of the Free Chapter 32 Gettysburg Address (1863) Chapter 33 The American System (1928) Chapter 34 The Four Freedoms (1941) Chapter 35 Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) Chapter 36 Puerto Ricans (1961) Chapter 37 Wrestling with the Hard One (1994) Chapter 38 POPism (1975) Chapter 39 An Okie from Muskogee (1969) Chapter 40 Wasteland of the Free (1996) Chapter 41 Of Our Spiritual Strivings (1903) Part 42 V America as an Empire Chapter 43 The Utility of the Union (1787) Chapter 44 The Monroe Doctrine (1823) Chapter 45 The European Colonizations of America (1855) Chapter 46 The White Man's Burden (1899) Chapter 47 Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle (1949) Chapter 48 U.S. and Mexican Pastimes (1946) Chapter 49 Ugly American Sightings (2000) Chapter 50 Letter to Americans (1986) Part 51 VI America as a Culture Chapter 52 The American Scholar (1837) Chapter 53 Ralph Waldo Emerson, Transcendental Critic (1927) Chapter 54 Factors in American Literary History (1925) Chapter 55 Middletown Faces Both Ways (1937) Chapter 56 Cultural Locations: Positioning American Studies in the Great Debate (1992)
