The Americans: "American Problems from the Point of View of a Psychologist"
()
About this ebook
"The Americans" by Hugo Munsterberg stands alongside Alexis de Tocqueville's American Democracy as one of the great works on the New World written by a scholar deeply familiar with the Old World. When originally published, it gave the German public a sense of American life, and was described as "a book which deals in a detailed way with the political, economic, intellectual, and social aspects of American culture." Munsterberg, a world-renowned psychologist at the turn of the twentieth century, noted that "its purpose is to interpret systematically the democratic ideals of America."
The primary aim of The Americans is to study the people and America's inner tendencies. It offers a "philosophy of Americanism," the ideology of a people writ whole. Munsterberg's sense of the "spirit" of a people, rather than facts about the people, is revealed in his four cardinal chapters: Self-Direction, Self-Realization, Self-Perfection, and Self-Assertion. While he covers the economic premises of the free market and the politics of party affairs, he considers these the least important. Instead it is the lasting forces and tendencies of American life, rather than problems of the day, that occupy the author.
This focus was shared by German readers, for whom the book was conceived, and for those in the United States who read the book in English.The dynamic of strong basic tendencies of democratic forces and lesser, but significant, aristocratic tendencies underwrites the strains and tensions in American society. It also defines the special nature of a book, written more than one hundred years ago, that retains its lively sense of purpose and deep insight into American life.
One could well say that this book is required reading in this day and age for Americans and Europeans alike:
"This is a neglected masterpiece.."
Related to The Americans
Related ebooks
The Americans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn The Fourth Year Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIN THE FOURTH YEAR: Anticipations of a world peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Fourth Year: Anticipations of a World Peace (1918) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Fourth Year (Barnes & Noble Digital Library): Anticipations of a World Peace Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To Cope and To Prevail: German Life in WWII and its Aftermath Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Nazi Seizure of Power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mankind in the Making Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5In the fourth year : anticipations of a world peace (The original unabridged edition) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Fourth Year: Anticipations of a World Peace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Atlantic Realists: Empire and International Political Thought Between Germany and the United States Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChomsky's Challenge to American Power: A Guide for the Critical Reader Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Rise and Fall of Jewish American Literature: Ethnic Studies and the Challenge of Identity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAn Unrepentant Liberal: Collected Writings 1951-2007 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUnited Germany: Debating Processes and Prospects Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsychological Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors by Charles Krauthammer | Conversation Starters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cold War and After: History, Theory, and the Logic of International Politics Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hating America: A History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe German Conception of History: The National Tradition of Historical Thought from Herder to the Present Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEnemies to Allies: Cold War Germany and American Memory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnti-Americanism in Europe: A Cultural Problem Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPresident Wilson's Addresses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Politics of Cultural Despair: A Study in the Rise of the Germanic Ideology Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France: The Political Thought of Mably Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, and The Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sins of the Fathers: Germany, Memory, Method Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSuppression of the African Slave-Trade to the United States of America: 1638-1870 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Social Science For You
Questions for Couples: 469 Thought-Provoking Conversation Starters for Connecting, Building Trust, and Rekindling Intimacy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKing, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Verbal Judo, Second Edition: The Gentle Art of Persuasion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Secret Garden: Women's Sexual Fantasies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fervent: A Woman's Battle Plan to Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Reset: And the War for the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All About Love: New Visions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Living Resistance: An Indigenous Vision for Seeking Wholeness Every Day Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row (Oprah's Book Club Selection) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denial of Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dumbing Us Down - 25th Anniversary Edition: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Like Switch: An Ex-FBI Agent's Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Explain Everything About the World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fourth Turning Is Here: What the Seasons of History Tell Us about How and When This Crisis Will End Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Americans
0 ratings0 reviews