American Exceptionalism

In engaging and lucid prose, Depkat offers general readers and students of American history an invaluable lens through which they can evaluate for themselves the merits of the many ways in which Americans have understood their country as exceptional.

Volker Depkat is a professor in the Department of British and American Studies at the University of Regensburg, Germany.

Acknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1 The American Land: Landscapes of Abundance, Wilderness, and Beauty Chapter 2 The West and the South: Exceptional Regions and Regions of Exceptionalism Chapter 3 Cities upon Hills: The Colonial Foundations of American Exceptionalism Chapter 4 Sacred Fire of Liberty: The American Revolution and the Transformation of American Exceptionalism Chapter 5 The American Way of Empire: Exceptionalism and U.S. Foreign Policy Chapter 6 Promissory Notes: Exceptionalism and African American Self-Empowerment Chapter 7 Perfectible Union: American Exceptionalism and Reform Chapter 8 People of Plenty: American Exceptionalism and Affluence Chapter 9 Crisis of Disorientation: Contested Exceptionalisms in Contemporary America Bibliographical Essay Index About the Author