Imagined Empires: Incas, Aztecs, and the New World of American Literature, 1771-1876 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) [Hardcover]

Eric Wertheimer (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521622298 | ISBN-13: 978-0521622295 | Publication Date: November 28, 1998

Imagined Empires demonstrates that early American culture took great interest in South American civilizations, especially the Incas and Aztecs, and in so doing made a statement about the role of the United States as an empire in the emerging political order of New World colonies and states. By examining the work of Philip Freneau, Joel Barlow, William Prescott, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman, the long-contested concept of "indigenous origins" is given expanded meaning beyond traditional critiques of American culture.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[The book] will stand as an important study of the literature of "'America' portendedand hoped for in New Worlds to come."" Ralph Bauer, American Litersture

"Recommended for graduate and research collections." Choice

Book Description

Imagined Empires demonstrates that early American culture took great interest in South American civilizations, especially the Incas and Aztecs, and in so doing made a statement about the role of the United States as an empire in the emerging political order of New World colonies and states. By examining the work of Philip Freneau, Joel Barlow, William Prescott, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman, the long-contested concept of "indigenous origins" is given expanded meaning beyond traditional critiques of American culture.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (November 28, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521622298
• ISBN-13: 978-0521622295
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,936,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intense study of American Literature after the Revolution, November 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Imagined Empires: Incas, Aztecs, and the New World of American Literature, 1771-1876 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Hardcover)

This book incorporates the views of American supriority and thestripping of tradtional Native American Empires from the canon ofAmerican text. Dr. Wertheimer exposes the nationalistic views of Post-Revolutionistic American writers in their attitudes towards the Incas and Aztecs. He also gives importance to the struggle of Latin American countries independence first from Spain, and then, the United States.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something New, January 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Imagined Empires: Incas, Aztecs, and the New World of American Literature, 1771-1876 (Cambridge Studies in American Literature and Culture) (Hardcover)

Imagined Empires is an amazing book. It is intellectually challenging, well written, and impressively researched. Literature has helped shaped what it means to be an American, and Eric Wertheimer's scholarship shines a light, for the first time, on a crucial influence in the history of American letters. Our literary forebears were more than "Old World" immigrants set into the rough hewn wilderness of this continent -- they were also intellectual descendants of the great pre-Columbian empires. This book does a startling thing: It teaches us something new.