Seizing destiny : how America grew from sea to shining sea / Richard Kluger.
From Pulitzer-winning social historian Kluger comes a reinterpretation of American history, a sweeping chronicle of how Americans extended their sovereignty from the Atlantic coastline to the mid-Pacific in the first 125 years of their national existence. The story reveals great accomplishments alon...
Main Author: | |
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Language: | English |
Published: |
New York :
A.A. Knopf,
2007.
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Edition: | First edition. |
Subjects: | |
Physical Description: | xviii, 649 pages ; 25 cm |
Format: | Book |
Summary: |
From Pulitzer-winning social historian Kluger comes a reinterpretation of American history, a sweeping chronicle of how Americans extended their sovereignty from the Atlantic coastline to the mid-Pacific in the first 125 years of their national existence. The story reveals great accomplishments along with the American tendency to confuse success with heaven-sent entitlement. The nation's pioneer generations were blessed with remarkable energy, fortitude, and boundless faith in their own prowess. They were also grasping opportunists who justified their often brutal aggression by demeaning the humanity of nonwhites. These visionary nation-builders proclaimed earnestly, if not innocently, their own rectitude to be the force behind the heroic "taming" of the wilderness and saw in this triumph the hand of Providence. Their good fortune was thus transformed into a mission of entitlement--their "manifest destiny," as they began calling it well after the process was under way.--From publisher description. |
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Call Number: | E179.5 .K56 2007 |
Bibliography Note: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [609]-624) and index. |
ISBN: | 0375413413 9780375413414 |