Synopses & Reviews
Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas that promote the unity of a vast nation and a diversified people because they have been shared and acted upon by generations of Americans. Tracing these beliefs historically from their origins in the earliest experiences of the American colonists, Mr. McElroy shows how they became continuing convictions that together form a pattern distinct from those of other peoples. Work, he argues, shaped the primary beliefs of Americans, for the task of the early settlers was first of all to survive in a new wilderness. He then goes on to discuss beliefs that grew from the experiences of immigrants, from life on the frontier, and from the ideas that Americans developed about religion and morality, politics, human nature, and the workings of society. It is not birthplace or skin color that makes a person an American, Mr. McElroy observes, but a common behavior based upon principles of freedom and equality, individuality and responsibility, improvement and practicality. American Beliefs is a book greatly needed, a powerful antidote to decades of historical and political writings that have concentrated on the differences among Americans.
Review
"In the tradition of William Bennett comes this well-written, argument-provoking compendium of American virtues." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"McElroy is very good at demonstrating how the very difficulties in settling the American landscape made its denizens respect labor, enterprise, and the ideal of the self-made man....His book sets out in impressive fashion how difficult conditions issued in beliefs that helped to overcome the conditions themselves." Joseph Epstein, Times Literary Supplement
Synopsis
Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas that keep a big country and a diverse people united, tracing them historically from their origins in the earliest experiences of the American colonists. A powerful antidote to decades of concentration on the differences among Americans."A magnificent and timely book. John McElroy picks up where de Tocqueville left off."-Charles Moskos.
Synopsis
Identifying and explaining those essential ideas that keep a big country and a diverse people united, Mr. McElroy traces them historically from their origins in the earliest experiences of the American colonists.
Synopsis
Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas of American culture that promote the unity of a vast nation and a diverse people because they have been shared and acted upon by generations of Americans. Tracing these ideas historically from the earliest experiences of the American colonists on the Atlantic coastal plain of North America, he shows how work shaped the primary beliefs of Americans. He goes on to discuss beliefs that grew from the experiences of immigrants, from life on the frontier, and from the ideas that Americans developed about religion and morality, politics, human nature, and the working of society. American Beliefs is a powerful antidote to the mant examinations of American culture that concentrate on the differences among Americans. Here, instead, is why they are so much alike.
Synopsis
Why do so many different people with widely dissimilar ideas and customs get along as Americans? In American Beliefs, John McElroy identifies and explains those essential ideas that promote the unity of a vast nation and a diverse people--because they have been shared and acted upon by generations of Americans.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-252) and index.