The American Future: A History - Softcover

9780060539245: The American Future: A History
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 

Nothing that has happened since the inauguration of Barack Obama has dispelled the sense that the election of 2008 was the kind of moment of truth in American politics and history that seldom comes along. Simon Schama, the acclaimed historian and award-winning critic, followed the campaign, but unlike other accounts, The American Future looks at that contemporary moment through the window of time. In four areas critical to the fate of the American republic—war; the place of religion in politics and culture; immigration; and the tenacious grip of expectations of permanent abundance—Schama looks back to see more clearly into the future. Full of lost insights and spellbinding tales, discovering men and women who have been forgotten in the big record, The American Future showcases Schama's unique gift of storytelling, ensuring these eloquent voices will be heard again as the nation moves forward into an uncertain moment in its history.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His award-winning books include Scribble, Scribble, Scribble; The American Future: A History; National Book Critics Circle Award winner Rough Crossings; The Power of Art; The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution; Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations); Landscape and Memory; Rembrandt's Eyes; and the History of Britain trilogy. He has written and presented forty television documentary films for the BBC, PBS, and The History Channel, including the Emmy-winning Power of Art, on subjects that range from John Donne to Tolstoy.

From The Washington Post:
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by Michael Kazin Who does Simon Schama think he is? The Columbia University historian seems to have few intellectual limits and to require little sleep. He has written path-breaking books about Dutch history and culture; the Rothschilds and the creation of Israel; sprawling narratives about the Revolution in France and slavery during the Revolution in America; a thick study of Rembrandt; a postmodern historical novel; dozens of provocative essays about art; and multi-part television documentaries about the history of Britain and the work of great artists, both of which attracted millions of viewers and, inevitably, hundreds of scholarly critics. Now Schama has chosen to examine the meaning of America's entire past and to suggest why it has culminated, quite happily in his view, in the election of Barack Obama. I suspect that historians on campuses across the nation are guiltily hoping that this time, Schama's reach has finally exceeded his grasp. They will be disappointed -- but only in part. As a literary endeavor, "The American Future" does live up to the author's lofty standards. Schama is, among other things, a nimble biographer. And in this book he tells four big, interlocking stories -- about war, religion, immigration and economic growth -- largely through the dramatic lives of individuals whose names will be familiar mainly to specialists. In Montgomery Meigs, he finds an exemplar of the soldier as engineer of grand purposes. While a young army officer in the 1850s, Meigs designed the aqueduct that supplied Washington, D.C., with free, clean water. Then, as quartermaster general during the Civil War, he helped ensure the Union victory by keeping the blue-clad troops supplied with mules, food, soap and dry underwear -- humble, necessary goods that their Confederate enemies often lacked. He also made the decision to establish a military cemetery on the grounds of Robert E. Lee's estate in Arlington, so that the soil of the treasonous general would be, as Schama writes, "purified with the bones of the blessed dead," among whom was Meigs's oldest son. To illustrate how American religion has often been a liberating faith, Schama introduces a former slave-turned-evangelist named Jarena Lee, whose sermons converted thousands of people to Methodism during the early years of the 19th century. "On and on went the inexhaustible road warrior," Schama writes, "exhorting in field and forest, in camp revivals and Love Feasts, comforting the dying" in the New York City cholera epidemic of 1831, "an authentic American phenomenon, preaching to overflowing congregations, the first, in her way, of the great black orators." Throughout the book, Schama counterposes such uplifting tales with deplorable ones. Meigs, the abolitionist in uniform, is balanced by Andrew Jackson, the military hero who, as president, ordered the U.S. Army to drive the Cherokees off their lands in Georgia. Schama sets Jarena Lee -- along with Fannie Lou Hamer, the legendary civil rights organizer and lay preacher of the 1960s -- against retired Gen. William Boykin, a devout Christian who served under Donald Rumsfeld during the first year of the Iraq war. Boykin once called Islam a religion of idolatry and told an audience he "wanted to arrive" in heaven " 'with blood on my knees and elbows . . . standing with a ragged breastplate of righteousness.' " What made America great, Schama suggests, has also been the source of its greatest flaws. Yet such vignettes -- and there are many more here -- do little to advance a fresh understanding of the American past. To describe the power of religious zeal and of zealous men in arms could be the starting point for an argument about the roots and consequences of ideological warfare. But Schama mostly allows his seductive portraits to speak for him. "The American Future" was written to accompany a TV series of the same name, which aired in the United States on Inauguration Day. Artful evocation may be all one can expect from such an enterprise. Still, one would like to come away from reading a book by such a thoughtful historian with a few insights to accompany his characters. No such reticence is evident in Schama's comments about our new president. "The Statue of Liberty was no longer a bad joke," he writes about the mood on election night 2008. Beyond the nominee's race, "American democracy came back from the dead" thanks to Obama's grassroots campaign and now has a chance to realize the unity of "independence" and "interdependence" that has led the nation out of its most serious crises. "The American Future" demonstrates once again that Schama is a quick study, a writer of gorgeous prose, and that he has a deep and clear-eyed love for his adopted land. It will take a while to see whether the distinguished historian is also a reliable prophet.
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherEcco
  • Publication date2010
  • ISBN 10 0060539240
  • ISBN 13 9780060539245
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages432
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780099520399: American Future: A History from the Founding Fathers to Barack Obama

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  ISBN 13:  9780099520399
Publisher: Vintage Books USA, 2010
Softcover

  • 9781847920003: The American Future

    Bodley..., 2008
    Hardcover

  • 9780061669071: The American Future: A History

    Harper..., 2009
    Softcover

  • 9781847920010: The American Future

    The Bo..., 2012
    Softcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New paperback Quantity: 13
Seller:
The Book Cellar, LLC
(Nashua, NH, U.S.A.)

Book Description paperback. Condition: New. New book with publisher's mark on edge.Over 1,000,000 satisfied customers since 1997! Choose expedited shipping (if available) for much faster delivery. Delivery confirmation on all US orders. Seller Inventory # 10056820

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 5.79
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco 0 (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
A Good Read
(Toronto, ON, Canada)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. 7.8 X 5.2 X 1.1 inches; 432 pages. Seller Inventory # 202782

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 8.99
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 7.00
From Canada to U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco Press 6/15/2010 (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Paperback or Softback Quantity: 5
Seller:
BargainBookStores
(Grand Rapids, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback or Softback. Condition: New. The American Future: A History 0.75. Book. Seller Inventory # BBS-9780060539245

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 16.78
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Softcover Quantity: 5
Seller:
GreatBookPrices
(Columbia, MD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 8585737-n

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.09
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Seller Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Soft Cover Quantity: 1
Seller:
booksXpress
(Bayonne, NJ, U.S.A.)

Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780060539245

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 17.74
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Lakeside Books
(Benton Harbor, MI, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Brand New! Not Overstocks or Low Quality Book Club Editions! Direct From the Publisher! We're not a giant, faceless warehouse organization! We're a small town bookstore that loves books and loves it's customers! Buy from Lakeside Books!. Seller Inventory # OTF-S-9780060539245

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 14.37
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Paperback Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Save With Sam
(North Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # 0060539240

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 19.12
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
Lucky's Textbooks
(Dallas, TX, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # ABLING22Oct2018170000378

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 15.82
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 3.99
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Simon Schama
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Paperback Quantity: 1
Seller:
Grand Eagle Retail
(Wilmington, DE, U.S.A.)

Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. "With eloquence, wit, passion, and irony, The American Future traces the history of an idea: that of our national destiny.A book of beautiful writing, peppered with wisecracks, slashed with rapier thrusts." --Philadelphia Inquirer A De Tocqueville for the 21st century, Simon Schama, NBCC Award winning author of Rough Crossings offers an essential, historical, long view analysis of the American character in The American Future. Shama examines four themes--war, race and faith, immigration, and custodianship of the land--through the prism of the historic 2008 presidential election in a magnificent work that the Wall Street Journal calls a "celebration of American resiliency." Niall Ferguson says, "I hope Obama will have this book on his bedside table." Nothing that has happened since the inauguration of Barack Obama has dispelled the sense that the election of 2008 was the kind of moment of truth in American politics and history that seldom comes along. Simon Schama, the acclaimed historian and award-winning critic, followed the campaign, but unlike other accounts, "The American Future" looks at that contemporary moment through the window of time. In four areas critical to the fate of the American republic—war; the place of religion in politics and culture; immigration; and the tenacious grip of expectations of permanent abundance—Schama looks back to see more clearly into the future. Full of lost insights and spellbinding tales, discovering men and women who have been forgotten in the big record, "The American Future" showcases Schama's unique gift of storytelling, ensuring these eloquent voices will be heard again as the nation moves forward into an uncertain moment in its history. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780060539245

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 21.56
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Schama, Simon
Published by Ecco (2010)
ISBN 10: 0060539240 ISBN 13: 9780060539245
New Softcover Quantity: > 20
Seller:
California Books
(Miami, FL, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # I-9780060539245

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 24.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds

There are more copies of this book

View all search results for this book