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Thomas Bender is qualified in telling the story of America as he sees it given that he is a professor of history, the University Professor of Humanities, and director of the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University. He is also the author and editor of many books, has been awarded prizes and scholarships, and is a renowned historian of American culture. In this way, well acquainted with the history of America, he is able to critically asses the fashion of its narration as well as recommend the way that it should be told, and its narration, he informs, us does not cohere to the way that American history actually occurred in reality.
According to Bender, we are apt to view American history as autonomous and independent events that signaled the rise of an autonomous and independent nation, but the country's history, he tells us, is really part of the world's history of the time, indistinguishable and part of a global conversation. American history is generally taught as something that happened to a self-contained nation, but, in reality, America was and is part of the world stage and whatever happened, occurred in connection to interlocking of simultaneous multiple events. These events shaped America, and America, in turn, shaped global events of the period.
Bender's way of telling history may not only make changes to the self-contained way that America per nation and history is taught in popular textbooks and classrooms but also to the way America perceives itself, as an 'exceptionalism' that has an ethos and past that is distinct form other countries....
On the contrary: "the United States [is] one of the many provinces that collectively constitutes humanity" (7).
Bender's thesis starts off by his first chapter that explores and redefines the meaning of the "age of discovery." He has us asking what it is that precisely demarcates the New World from the old. What precisely is new about it? This chapter sets the stage for the rest of the book.
The second chapter extends the geography and chronology of the American Revolution, placing it contextually among the background of the powerful 18th century empires and the Great War, namely the Anglo-Franco conflict that lasted between 1689 to 1815. It was French reaction to Britain and territorial and political as well as economic events extraneous to America that helped the fledgling nation gain their independence from Britain and become a nation. Equally significant is the fact that America was only one of the numerous nations at the time that embroiled itself in revolutionary ardor. This was part of the spirit of the epoch were national competitiveness and aggression was the norm with nations reforming themselves and tearing themselves away from others. America was no exception. Rather, it was one of many that were doing the same thing.
Writing in a non-emotional, logical manner, the second chapter logically flows from the first with the first setting the stage by challenging our most prized opinion. We tend to think America as different and distinct from other nations. It is one of a kind, a special nation, "a nation amongst nations" -- but…
American Exceptionalism When the American electorate re-elected George W. Bush as their President in November 2004, the rest of the world shook its head in collective amazement. They could not understand how someone the world 'loved to hate' and who, in their opinion, had committed 'monumental blunders' in his four years in office, could be chosen by so many Americans as their leader. They need not have been surprised having been
When we speak of Puritanical values, however, some events in America's history seriously clash with its "pure values" or its belief that it's a world liberator. The first one was slavery. No where in the world have we witnessed just harsh case of slavery as in the United States. To this day, African-Americans have been unable to liberate themselves completely from the ugly history of slavery that had seriously marred
" This view appears to be excessively negative, not least because of its lack of balance. It fails to acknowledge balance and uses all arguments to the contrary to perpetuate itself. Neither the view of American exceptionalism being wholly good or wholly bad is therefore entirely realistic. Much more realistic is perhaps Koh's view, although it still tends towards the somewhat negative side. I do agree with this author in terms
American Exceptionalism While some believe that America is truly exceptional, others believe that it is just another country in history that has many of the same problems that other countries have. Furthermore, some people even go further towards the opposite end of the spectrum, against the idea of the U.S. being exceptional in any way, and believe that its actions and its presence are largely counterproductive among world affairs. For example,
The Myth of American Exceptionalism The myth of American exceptionalism is a familiar one to Americans and non-Americans alike. It suggest that America, as the home of the free and the brave, is unique in its allowance of freedom and social mobility, in contrast to Europe, Asia, and other, much older civilizations. Yet as noted by Stephen M. Walt in his essay, “The Myth of American Exceptionalism,” perhaps one of the
To wit, "half of Americans deem religion very important in their lives; fewer than a quarter in Spain (22%) feel this way, and in Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%), even fewer say religion is "very important" to their lives (PEW). Fifty-three percent of Americans are more apt to agree that it is vital to believe in God prior to having good morals and values while just 33% of