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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Textbook You Wish You'd Had in School, June 26, 2005
This review is from: Freedom Just Around the Corner: A New American History: 1585-1828 (Paperback)
Did we need one more history of the US? Even McDougall isn't so sure about that. But he manages to find a path that hasn't been beaten down.
Where the tendency of American historians has been to find One Big Peg on which to hang their histories, McDougall pitches a big tent and tries hard to fit everybody under it. He works hard to tell the whole story without trying to shape it to lead to a particular moral.
For example, McDougall's approach to America's Christian roots. He doesn't try to minimize them and pretend that they weren't really there or didn't really matter, but neither does he try to elevate them into a thesis about Americans being God's Chosen People. He acknowledges them and presents them thoroughly without trying to shape them to prove something.
If McDougall has a point of view, it is that of a mild cynic. His one thesis is that Americans have always been hustlers in both senses of the word-- hard workers and scammers. This gives the work a tendency to shy away from Big Deep Ideas and philosophical cant. Where many historians have tried to layer American history in fancy clothes (This cigar is really a symbol of the repressed oppression of growing economic anti-humanistic struggling), this book leaves the impression of a more direct view (This is a cigar).
Beyond that, most of his organizational tools are about analysis rather than interpretation. His language is relaxed, cleasr and sometimes even colloquial, and his reach is considerable. There's a great deal of information here, but explained and organized so that the reader comes away with a clear view of a large picture.
If I were a high school history teacher, I'd be begging for sets of this book to teach from. A great and clear read.
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41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Tour De Force, April 26, 2004
In his foreword, McDougall is candid about his own doubts about whether America needs yet another multi-volume set of tomes chronicling its history. As the existnece of this book indicates, McDougall answered his own doubts. The book is built around the central thesis that "America is a nation of hustlers". McDougall's central insight proves to be fresh and interesting enough to carry subject matter that has (as the author admits) been covered many times before. His sythesis of recent scholarship in the field of American History is top notch, and the notes alone make the book worth the cover price. Interested readers will find hundreds of jumping off points for further exploration in the field of merican history. McDougall is cognizant of the diversity of "histories" which have multiplied in recent years. He includes citations to and summaries of gender and ethnic histories that demonstrate his familiarity with recent scholarship. At the same time, he drops footnotes lauding Huntington (a historian favored by conservatives) and certainly doesn't shy away from the "great man" school of scholarship.
I especially enjoyed the treatment of the links between intellectual history in Britain in the pre-revolutinary era with the developments in America leading up to the revolution. On the whole, this is a balanced, nuanced reading of American history and I anticipate the next chapter(this is projected to be a three volume set).
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38 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A fine history. Compelling and engrossing., July 21, 2004
McDougall's new spin on Americans as a nation of hustlers is an interesting one. For some time I myself have struggled to find a definition of just what it is that makes Americans "American" and makes them so distinctive as a culture. Perhaps hustling is a large part of that recipe. Some may view it as cynical, but if it is true, it has clearly been a liberating characteristic that has served us well. Nowhere in the world is their such a large capacity for innovation and such a vitality.
Not that America doesn't have its fair share of contradictions and hypocrisies, as McDougall generously points out. No, this is no gilded history, with perfect Founding Fathers and benevolent leaders. It is a very honest history, that makes the reader reflect upon themselves and ask "Am I a hustler?"
It is a fun and entertaining read, but it assumes that the reader knows a little something about American and world history. Therefore, it is not a "History for Dummies". The only minor annoyance I have with the book is McDougall's liberal sprinkling throughout the text of Latin and French phrases with no translation. It is assumed that the reader can decipher these phrases, and they present themselves at critical times in the discussion, especially when McDougall is seeking to make a clinching or final point about an event or issue. Some of his most important points, therefore, might be "lost in translation" as the reader trys to figure out what the phrase means, but instead gives up and moves on. Personally, I've always thought that writers who use unfamiliar phrases and words are just showing off and acting superior (George F. Will comes to mind). Regardless, I don't believe such a practice serves the reader quite as well as it may serve the writer's ego.
This minor flaw is not a deal-breaker, however, and I recommend the book to anyone who wants to know why Americans are the way they are. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I just hope McDougall dumps the romance languages and just sticks with good old American English.
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