Barbarian Virtues: The United States Encounters Foreign Peoples at Home and Abroad, 1876-1917 - Hardcover

Jacobson, Matthew Frye

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0809028085 ISBN 13: 9780809028085

Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub, 2000

Synopsis

A brilliant examination of national identity in a crucial period

The United States first announced its power on the international scene at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 and first demonstrated that power during World War I. The years in between were a period of dramatic change, when the dynamics of industrialization rapidly accelerated the rate at which Americans were coming in contact with foreign peoples, both at home and abroad.
In Barbarian Virtues, Matthew Frye Jacobson shows how American conceptions of peoplehood, citizenship, and national identity were transformed in these crucial years by escalating economic and military involvements abroad and by the massive influx of immigrants at home. Drawing upon a diverse range
of sources--not only traditional political documents but also novels, travelogues, academic treatises, and art--Jacobson demonstrates the close relationship between immigration and expansionism. By bridging these two areas, so often left separate, he rethinks the texture of American political life in a keenly argued and persuasive history. Barbarian Virtues shows how these years set the stage for today's attitudes and ideas about "Americanism" and about immigrants and foreign policy, from Border Watch to the Gulf War.

About this title

Review:

"A thoughtful analysis of America's uneasy relationship with foreignness."--"Kirkus Reviews"
"An excellent look at an aspect of U.S. history not often discussed or studied."--Vanessa Bush, "Booklist"

A thoughtful analysis of America's uneasy relationship with foreignness. "Kirkus Reviews"

An excellent look at an aspect of U.S. history not often discussed or studied. "Vanessa Bush, Booklist""

"A thoughtful analysis of America's uneasy relationship with foreignness." --Kirkus Reviews

"An excellent look at an aspect of U.S. history not often discussed or studied." --Vanessa Bush, Booklist

About the Author:

Matthew Frye Jacobson, associate professor of American studies at Yale, is the author of Whiteness of a Different Color and Special Sorrows. He lives in New York.

About this edition

• Publisher: Hill & Wang Pub
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0809028085
• ISBN 13: 9780809028085
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 324