The Myths That Made America
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Heike Paul
About this book
This essential introduction to American studies examines the core foundational myths upon which the nation is based and which still determine discussions of US-American identities today. These myths include the myth of »discovery,« the Pocahontas myth, the myth of the Promised Land, the myth of the Founding Fathers, the melting pot myth, the myth of the West, and the myth of the self-made man.
The chapters provide extended analyses of each of these myths, using examples from popular culture, literature, memorial culture, school books, and every-day life. Including visual material as well as study questions, this book will be of interest to any student of American studies and will foster an understanding of the United States of America as an imagined community by analyzing the foundational role of myths in the process of nation building.
Author / Editor information
Heike Paul (Prof. Dr.), geb. 1968, ist Lehrstuhlinhaberin für Amerikanistik an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. Forschungsaufenthalte und Gastprofessuren führten sie nach Cambridge (MA), Los Angeles (CA) und Hanover (NH). Sie ist u.a. Sprecherin des DFG-Graduiertenkollegs »Das Sentimentale in Literatur, Kultur und Politik« und erhielt 2018 den Leibniz-Preis.
Reviews
»[Die Analyse ermöglicht] in ihrer Gesamtheit faszinierende Impressionen von Mentalitäten und Idealen, Vorurteilen und Abgrenzungen der US-amerikanischen Gesellschaft des 19. und 20.Jahrhunderts.«
Supplementary Materials
Topics
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Frontmatter
1 -
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Contents
7 -
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Acknowledgments
9 -
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Introduction
11 -
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Chapter I: Christopher Columbus and the Myth of ‘Discovery’
43 -
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Chapter II: Pocahontas and the Myth of Transatlantic Love
89 -
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Chapter III: Pilgrims and Puritans and the Myth of the Promised Land
137 -
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Chapter IV: American Independence and the Myth of the Founding Fathers
197 -
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Chapter V: E Pluribus Unum? The Myth of the Melting Pot
257 -
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Chapter VI: Agrarianism, Expansionism, and the Myth of the American West
311 -
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Chapter VII: Expressive Individualism and the Myth of the Self-Made Man
367 -
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By Way of Conclusion
421 -
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Index
427
