From Publishers Weekly:
Must republics inevitably degenerate into empires? That is the underlying question behind this erudite, prickly survey of American history. Carter takes pains to demonstrate the stamp of Roman republicanism on American democracy, and he is alert to the perils the U.S. has courted in pursuing imperialist ambitions--as Rome did. His judgments are frequently unorthodox: he characterizes Abraham Lincoln as a "lay Calvinist theologian" who saw the Civil War as divine judgment against both North and South. Professor at the University of Arizona, Carter ( Another Part of the Twenties ) offers a series of meditations on such topics as the frontier, the place of the artist in American life, environmentalism, the impact of religion on politics. The author's belief that historical progress is never inevitable fuels his fondness for independent spirits such as Revolutionary War poet Philip Freneau and Margaret Fuller, a New England writer who threw herself into Italy's freedom struggles of 1848.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal:
Carter's latest work on the American psyche (the previous one was Another Part of the Fifties, LJ 7/83) is an erudite, often puckish stroll through the entire history of our public attitudes, shibboleths, and creeds. The book is a blend of thoughtfulness and cerebral cheek. One of its gems is a long and chatty bibliographic essay which is as rewarding as the narrative itself. Unfortunately, Carter does not leave enough room to fully discuss some tantalizing areas such as neo-Victorianism, and his treatment of the modern era is disappointingly trendy. Even so, lovers of books and ideas will be pleased with this. For university libraries and large public collections.
- Raymond L. Puffer, U.S. Air Force History Prog., Los Angeles
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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