American Exeptionalism

The idea that American historical development is different from that of other nations is an old one, yet it shows no sign of losing its emotive power. 'Exceptionalism' continues to excite, beguile, and frustrate students of the American past. The essays in this volume explore the ways in which the process of class formation in the United States can be said to be distinctive. Focusing upon the impact of liberal political thought, race and immigration, and the role of the war-time state, they challenge particularist and nation-centred modes of explanation. Comparing American historical development with Italian, South African, and Australian examples, the essays reinvigorate a tired debate.

Autorentext

RICK HALPERN is Bissell-Heyd-Associates Chair of American Studies and Professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto, Canada

Inhalt
Acknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction - The Persistence of Exceptionalism: Class Formation and the Comparative Method; R.Halpern & J.Morris - EXCEPTIONALISM REVISITED - The Paradoxes of American Exceptionalism; M.Zuckerman - American Exceptionalism Revisited; I.Katznelson - Why No Labour Party? Class and Race in the United States and Australia; R.Archer - THE POLITICS OF POPULAR LIBERALISM - It is the Working Class Who Fight All the Battles: Military Service and the Study of American Workers; R.Horowitz - The Limits of Liberalism: Working-class Formation in Britain and the United States; N.Kirk - RELIGION AND DISPOSITION - Present at the Creation: Working-Class Catholics in the United States; L.W.Tentler - Religion and the Formation of the Italian Working Class; J.Pollard - RACE AND CLASS: CONSTRUCTIONS, COMPARISONS, CONNECTIONS - Inbetween Peoples: Race, Nationality and the New Immigrant Working Class; J.Barrett & D.Roediger - 'Social Burden' or 'Amiable Peasantry': Constructing a Place for Black Southerners; J.Grossman - Workers at War: The South African Experience, 1939-1945; P.Alexander - Apropos of Exceptionalism: Imperial Location and the Comparative Histories of the United States and South Africa; R.Gregg -Index