Inventing Destiny : Cultural Explorations of US Expansion

Jimmy L. Bryan

ISBN 10: 0700628177 / ISBN 13: 9780700628179

Published by University Press Of Kansas Sep 2019, 2019

About this Item

Neuware - The mythmakers of US expansion have expressed 'manifest destiny' in many different ways--and so have its many discontents. A multidisciplinary study that delves into these contrasts and contradictions, Inventing Destiny offers a broad yet penetrating cultural history of nineteenth-century US territorial acquisition--a history that gives voice to the underrepresented actors who significantly complicated US narratives of empire, from Native Americans and Anglo-American women to anti- and non-national expansionists.The contributors--established and emerging scholars from history, American studies, literary studies, art history, and religious studies--make use of source materials and techniques as various as artwork, religion, geospatial analysis, interior colonialism, and storytelling alongside fresh readings of traditional historical texts. In doing so, they seek to illuminate the complexities rather than simplify, to transgress borders rather than redraw them, and to amplify the under-told stories rather than repeat the old ones. Their work identifies and explores the obscure--or obscured--fictions of expansion, seeking a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of culture creation and recognizing those who resisted US territorial aggrandizement.In sum, Inventing Destiny demonstrates the value of cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of the multiple rationales, critiques, interventions, and contingencies of nineteenth-century US expansion.

Seller Inventory # 9780700628179

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Inventing Destiny : Cultural Explorations of US Expansion
• Publisher: University Press Of Kansas Sep 2019
• Publication Date: 2019
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0700628177
• ISBN 13: 9780700628179
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 231W x 149H x 25D millimeters 231 millimeters width by 149 millimeters height by 25 millimeters depth
• Weight: 615 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The mythmakers of US expansion have expressed “manifest destiny” in many different ways—and so have its many discontents. A multidisciplinary study that delves into these contrasts and contradictions, Inventing Destiny offers a broad yet penetrating cultural history of nineteenth-century US territorial acquisition—a history that gives voice to the underrepresented actors who significantly complicated US narratives of empire, from Native Americans and Anglo-American women to anti- and non-national expansionists.

The contributors—established and emerging scholars from history, American studies, literary studies, art history, and religious studies—make use of source materials and techniques as various as artwork, religion, geospatial analysis, interior colonialism, and storytelling alongside fresh readings of traditional historical texts. In doing so, they seek to illuminate the complexities rather than simplify, to transgress borders rather than redraw them, and to amplify the under-told stories rather than repeat the old ones. Their work identifies and explores the obscure—or obscured—fictions of expansion, seeking a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of culture creation and recognizing those who resisted US territorial aggrandizement.

In sum, Inventing Destiny demonstrates the value of cross-disciplinary approaches to the study of the multiple rationales, critiques, interventions, and contingencies of nineteenth-century US expansion.

About the Author

Jimmy L. Bryan Jr. is associate professor of history at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. He is the author of, most recently, The American Elsewhere: Adventure and Manliness in the Age of Expansion, also from Kansas.