The American Future

by Schama, Simon

• ISBN13: 9780060539245
• ISBN10: 0060539240
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-06-15
• Publisher: Ecco Pr

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Simon Schama is a professor of art history and history at Columbia University, and is the author of numerous award-winning books; Rough Crossings, his history of the American Revolution, won the National Book Critics Circle Award for General Nonfiction. He is a cultural essayist for the New Yorker and has written and presented more than thirty documentaries for the BBC, PBS, and the History Channel, including The Power of Art, which won the 2007 International Emmy for Best Arts Programming, and The American Future: A History, now available on DVD.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. 1
American War
Veterans Day: II November 2007	p. 25
The fight for the citadel: soldiering and the Founding Fathers	p. 33
The Drop Zone Cafe, San Antonio, Texas, 3 March 2008	p. 55
The trials of the Roman	p. 59
Taking sides	p. 70
Father and son	p. 78
The quartermaster general, 1861-64	p. 85
John Rodgers Meigs, the Shenandoah Valley, summer and fall 1864	p. 100
Montgomery Meigs and Louisa Rodgers Meigs, October 1864-December 1865	p. 103
Washington, D.C., February 2008	p. 108
Hamilton resurrexit	p. 111
American war: Rohrbach-lès-Bitche, the Maginot Line near Metz, 10 December 1944	p. 123
American Fervor
Atlantic City, August 1964	p. 130
Saved	p. 138
Raven, Virginia, 2008	p. 148
Providence	p. 152
"Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free…"	p. 161
National Sin	p. 176
Jarena Lee	p. 186
The sovereignty of the voice	p. 195
Easter Sunday, 2008, Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta	p. 206
Great white hopes?	p. 210
Ruleville, Mississippi, 31 August 1962	p. 213
What is An American?
Twilight, Downing Street, June 2008	p. 219
Citizen Heartbreak: France, August 1794	p. 223
The German threat	p. 238
The Chicken Club, south Texas, July 2008	p. 244
The immigrant problem in Texas	p. 246
The German threat-again	p. 263
The importance of Fred Bee	p. 268
Grace under pressure	p. 283
Jefferson's Koran	p. 295
American Plenty
Running on empty?	p. 303
Strawberry fields, 1775	p. 312
White Path, 1801-23	p. 316
1893	p. 330
The church of irrigation	p. 336
Ghost house	p. 344
Roll up that lawn	p. 351
Windmills	p. 357
Epilogue: The Impotent Angel?	p. 363
Bibliography	p. 371
Acknowledgments	p. 379
Picture Acknowledgments	p. 383
Index	p. 385
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