American CivilizationInstitute for the Study of the Americas, 2007 - 105 páginas This thought-provoking book demonstrates that, far from being a unique entity, the United States is the most American of nations. It shares with its neighbors to the south an aspiration for equal opportunities and freedoms in a society both defined and divided by race. As Charles A. Jones points out, the United States is distinguished from its neighbors chiefly by the greater material capabilities it has been able to apply to this historic task. Although it is sometimes regarded as Western, Jones points out the extremes to which the United States differs from Western Europe: from distinctive levels and styles of religiosity to public violence to respect for law to concern with material accumulation. These traits, far from constituting a claim to exceptionality, bind the U.S. firmly to the rest of the American hemisphere. In fact, Jones argues, it was separated only by the strange accident of historiography that created a Latin America little more than a century ago. He projects that these perceived differences between the United States and its southern neighbors will fade in the near future, and looks forward to a truly inclusive America. |
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... modernity in the Americas . The method of modern , as distinct from contemporary history is to work forward through time examining the consequences of past events . For the Americas , this might seem to require a starting date of 1492 ...
... modernity might be an aspiration in Europe , inhibited by customary rights and entrenched institutions , it appeared more realistically achievable in the Americas . Just as modern Europe came , rightly or wrongly , to regard the Orient ...
... modernity as diffusion from a core area is mistaken and aligns himself instead with those ' who have insisted on the multicentric nature of globalization in the early mod- ern world'.86 This is partly because technological advances in ...