Synopses & Reviews
Revised and updated, the fifth edition of this now standard two-volume anthology brings together some of the most historically significant writings in American intellectual history. Uniquely comprehensive, The American Intellectual Tradition includes classic works in philosophy, religion, social theory, political thought, economics, psychology, and cultural and literary criticism. Organized chronologically into thematic sections, the two volumes trace the evolution of intellectual writing and thinking from its origins in Puritan beliefs to the most recent essays on diversity and postmodernity. Pedagogical features include introductions and headnotes to the selections, updated bibliographic material throughout, and detailed chronologies at the end of each book. Addressing such highly contested subjects as race, class, gender, aesthetics, political religion, and the role of the United States in the world, The American Intellectual Tradition, Fifth Edition, is invaluable for undergraduate courses in intellectual history. It is also an excellent supplement for graduate seminars and classes in American history, American studies, and American literature.
Volumes I and II now offer new selections from Roger Williams, John Humphrey Noyes, Asa Gray, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Charles Augustus Briggs, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Walter Lippmann, Thurman Arnold, Henry Luce, Henry A. Wallace, Albert Einstein, Aldo Leopold, James Baldwin, George Kennan, Milton Friedman, Herbert Marcuse, Edward Said, Gloria Anzaldua, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Joan W. Scott, Samuel Huntington, and Carl Sagan.
Review
Praise for the previous edition
"This is a wonderfully rich collection of primary source readings, intelligently selected and usefully organized. This updated edition is indispensable for undergraduate courses in American intellectual or cultural history, a stimulating supplement to any undergraduate course about the United States, and required reading for graduate students."--Dorothy Ross, Johns Hopkins University
"This sourcebook continues to serve as the cornerstone of my teaching in American thought for undergraduates and graduate students alike. The American Intellectual Tradition provides a comprehensive survey ranging from the Puritan theology to postmodern critical theory. The fourth edition includes updated versions of Hollinger and Capper's superb critical commentaries and comprehensive bibliographies, essays as valuable for specialists trying to keep track of new work in cultural history as for students seeking guidance as they embark on the historical study of ideas."--James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University
Synopsis
This two-volume anthology brings together some of the most historically significant writings in American intellectual history. The only collection of its kind, The American Intellectual Tradition, Fifth Edition, includes classic works in history, politics, social commentary, economics, law literature, and philosophy. Organized chronologically into thematic sections, it traces the evolution of intellectual writing and thinking from it origins in Puritan beliefs to the most recent essays on diversity and post-modernity. A short introduction by the authors precedes each work and both volumes include detailed chronologies and bibliographic material. Offering several new selections, this new edition addresses additional themes, including aesthetics, cultural criticism, Americanism, and race, gender, and sexuality.
Table of Contents
Preface
Part One: The Puritan Vision Altered
Introduction
John Winthrop, "A Modell of Christian Charity" (1630)
John Cotton, "Selection from A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace (1636)
Anne Hutchinson, "The Examination of Mrs. Anne Hutchinson at the Court at Newtown" (1637)
Roger Williams, "The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience (1644)
Cotton Mather, Selection from Bonifacius (1710)
Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (1741), Selection from A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections (1746)
Part Two: Republican Enlightenment
Introduction
Benjamin Franklin, Selection from The Autobiography (1784-88)
John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law (1765)
Thomas Paine, Selection from Common Sense (1776)
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence (1776)
Alexander Hamilton, "Constituional Convention Speech on a Plan of Government" (1787)
"Brutus," Selection from "Essays of Brutus" (1787-88)
James Madison, The Federalist, "Number 10" and "Number 51" (1787-88)
Judith Sargent Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes" (1790)
John Adams, Letters to Samuel Adams, October 18, 1790; and to Thomas Jefferson, November 15, 1813; April 9, 1817
Thomas Jefferson, Selection from otes on the State of Virginia (1787), Letters to John Adams, October 28, 1813; to Benjamin Rush, with a Syllabus, April 21, 1803; and to Thomas Law, June 13, 1814
Part Three: Protestant Awakening and Democratic Order
Introduction
William Ellery Channing, "Unitarian Christianity" (1819)
Nathaniel William Taylor, Concio and Clerum (1828)
Charles Grandison Finney, Selection from Lectures on Revivals of Religion (1835)
John Humphrey Noyes, Selection from The Berean (1847)
William Lloyd Garrison, Selection from Thoughts on African Colonization (1832), "Prospectus of The Liberator" (1837)
Sarah Grimke, Selection from Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, and the Condition of Woman (1838)
George Bancroft, "The Office of the People in Art, Government, and Religion" (1835)
Orestes Brownson, "The Laboring Classes" (1840)
Catherine Beecher, Selection from A Treatise on Domestic Economy (1841)
Henry C. Carey, Selection from The Harmony of Interests (1851)
Part Four: Romantic Intellect and Cultural Reform
Introduction
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address"
(1838), "Self Reliance" (1841)
Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, "A Glimpse of Christ's Idea of Society" (1841), "Plan of the West Roxbury Community (1842)
Margaret Fuller, Selection from Woman in the Nineteenth Century (1845)
Henry David Thoreau, "Resistance to Civil Government" (1849)
Horace Bushnell, "Christian Nature" (1847)
Herman Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses" (1850)
Part Five: The Quest for Union and Renewal
Introduction
John C. Calhoun, Selection from A Disquisition on Government (c. late 1840s)
Louisa McCord, "Enfranchisement of a Woman" (1852)
George Fitzhugh, Selection from Sociology for the South (1854)
Martin Delaney, Selection from The Condition, Elevation, Emigration, and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States (1852)
Frederick Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July" (1852)
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Peoria, Illinois" (1854), "Address Before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society (1859); "Address Delivered at the Dedication of the Cemetery at Gettysburg (1863), "Second Inaugural Address" (1865)
Chronologies