Customer Reviews

The Battle for the American Mind: A Brief History of a Nation's Thought

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This book covers the basics. But it is lame. Why? Talks about Puritan intolerance but doesn't mention the execution of the Quakers. Talks about Darwinism but then goes on for two pages about criticisms of the theory by Phillip E. Johnson (1991)... oh the eye its so complicated, oh mutations are so often bad, therefore evolution isn't fully accepted. Talks about American biologists not fully accepting Darwinism until the 1930s. Presents Freud's psychology in the domain of skepticism and connected to Darwinism (I can think of no theoretical framework that is less skeptical than Freudian psychology). Complete lack of understanding when it comes to nationalism... and exceedingly simplistic reading of antiquity (which has nothing to do with nationalism) for instance:
"The decline and fall of the Roman Empire was due largely to the decline of patriotism and the rise of internationalism." (221)
I thought it had more to do with the value of specie, the incorporation of Germanic tribes into its frontier defense system, and the development of feudal roles.

Most of it is solid history, but there is a bit of misleading information and a few downright falsehoods scattered through the text. Thus: lame.