The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Examines the history of American thought from the pre-contact period to the present day
Written by one of the most distinguished intellectual historians of her generation
Contains insights into key moments of American intellectual transformation, from the Enlightenment, transcendentalism, and Social Darwinism to progressivism, conservatism, and postmodernism
Explores American history by way of ideas, thinkers, and intellectual movements

The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Description

Long before the United States was a nation, it was a set of ideas, projected onto the New World by European explorers with centuries of belief and thought in tow. From this foundation of expectation and experience, America and American thought grew in turn, enriched by the bounties of the Enlightenment, the philosophies of liberty and individuality, the tenets of religion, and the doctrines of republicanism and democracy. Crucial to this development were the thinkers who nurtured it, from Thomas Jefferson to Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.E.B. DuBois to Jane Addams, and Betty Friedan to Richard Rorty. The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History traces how Americans have addressed the issues and events of their time and place, whether the Civil War, the Great Depression, or the culture wars of today.

Spanning a variety of disciplines, from religion, philosophy, and political thought, to cultural criticism, social theory, and the arts, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen shows how ideas have been major forces in American history, driving movements such as transcendentalism, Social Darwinism, conservatism, and postmodernism. In engaging and accessible prose, this introduction to American thought considers how notions about freedom and belonging, the market and morality -- and even truth -- have commanded generations of Americans and been the cause of fierce debate.

The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Introduction
Chapter 1: World of Empires (Precontact-1740)
Chapter 2: America and the Transatlantic Enlightenment (1740-1800)
Chapter 3: From Republican to Romantic (1800-1850)
Chapter 4: Contests of Intellectual Authority (1850-1890)
Chapter 5: Fin-de-siècle Revolts against Absolutes (1890-1920)
Chapter 6: Roots and Rootlessness from the First World War
to the Second (1920-45)
Chapter 7: The Opening of the American Mind (1945-1970)
Chapter 8: The End of Universalism (1962-1990s)
Epilogue: Rethinking Cosmopolitanism in an Age of Globalization
Notes
Index

The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Author Information

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen is the Merle Curti and Vilas-Borghesi Distinguished Achievement Professor of History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she teaches US intellectual and cultural history.

The Ideas That Made America: A Brief History

Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen

Reviews and Awards

"A valuable civic exercise that invites 'thinking about thinking.' " -- Kirkus

"[A] thoughtful and succinct introduction to American intellectual history." -- Publishers Weekly, starred review

"[Ratner-Rosenhagen's] curiosity about ideas, her determination to understand a diverse set of authors and points of view on their own terms, and her conviction that the messiness of the American intellectual tradition is an essential feature of American life make this book a stimulating read." -- Foreign Affairs

"Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen is one of our finest intellectual historians, and The Ideas That Made America shows her in top form. It is lively, fresh, and illuminating; it casts news light on many figures and movements we thought we knew well. One could not ask for a more succinct and subtle overview of American ideas and their consequences." -- Jackson Lears, Board of Governors Distinguished Professor of History, Rutgers University

"In sparkling prose, Ratner-Rosenhagen surveys the grand sweep of American ideas from the Puritans to Postmodernism, and everything in between. She shows how a whole variety of people have tackled some of the thorniest American questions over the last three hundred years: What is the place we call America? And who are Americans? Anyone interested in the big ideas should reach for this very short-and very illuminating-book." -- Caroline Winterer, Anthony P. Meier Family Professor in the Humanities, Stanford University

"The Ideas That Made America is an astonishment. In accessible and compelling prose, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen shows us why she is considered one of our great intellectual historians. Here, she brings us a history of the United States that is as impressive for its breadth as it is for its precision. Ratner-Rosenhagen tends to the rich palette of ideas that have defined this nation, making sure to speak to its inalienable truths while also acknowledging its tragic flaws. The United States is as much an expression of a single idea as it is a conglomeration of competing ideologies, visions ,and voices. Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen guides us through these contradictions with seemingly effortless mastery. I, for one, am grateful for her guidance." -Jonathan Holloway, Provost and Professor of History and African American Studies, Northwestern University