Publisher's Synopsis
The theme of this book is the effect of the idea of America on historical figures and events, and on the historians who chronicled them. The fundamental assumption is that a number of American identities have been formed within the context of a diverse colonial legacy. Changing ideas of what America is or should be and what it means to be American are assumed to be consequences of historical pressures.;The book is divided into two sections, juxtaposing colonial dealing with "native" America and Americans and the more recent attitudes of "native-born" Americans. Together, the two sections form a commentary on the development of the historical importance of the idea of America, on both sides of the Atlantic.;The focus of the first section of the book is the historical idea of America that was formed through the process of colonization, with its attendant impact upon wildlife, landscapes and native peoples.;The essays in the concluding section of the book deal with the experience of "native-born" rather than the "native" Americans. Here issues of nationality, the formation of national identity in response to a dual inheritance (both metropolitan and colonial), and pressures peculiar to the 20th century such as "Americanization" come to the fore.
