American Intellectual History (1620--1920)

Author: (American) Parington, translated by Chen Yongguo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-12-01
Features: This thick 1,100-page, 1.1 million-word translation is divided into three volumes. Volume I covers 1620–1800: The Colonial Spirit; Volume II covers 1800–1860: The Romantic Revolution of America; Volume III covers 1860–1920: The Emergence of Critical Realism. In Volume I, the author cautiously examines the legacy left by 17th and 18th-century Europe for the colonies, with the crucial point being the transplantation of Old World liberalism to America. Some ideals and institutions from the Old World that entered America ultimately succumbed to the pressures of the new environment, overthrowing the principles of monarchy and aristocracy and establishing the principles of republicanism. In Volume II, the author studies the "new things" of the "New World," including two wars—The War of 1812 accelerated the development of 19th-century ideals, while the Civil War completely eradicated the barbarism of the "innocent age." The author believes that in the early days of the founding of the United States, the humanitarian philosophy of the French Enlightenment and the liberal philosophy of Britain were in a struggle to win the dominant position of the United States. In Volume III, the United States was a changing nation, beginning with the free scenery of the Gilded Age. "The pulse of the entrepreneurial spirit, the pragmatic cultural strategy, the political ideas behind economic development, and the fierce ideological struggles—all of these forged a national consciousness and wove an illusory and ever-changing American Dream."