The American Intellectual Tradition ─ 1865 to the Present

"This is a wonderfully rich collection of primary source readings, intelligently selected and usefully organized. This updated edition is indispensable for undergraduate courses in American intellectual or cultural history, a stimulating supplement to any undergraduate course about the United States, and required reading for graduate students." - Dorothy Ross, Johns Hopkins University

"This sourcebook continues to serve as the cornerstone of my teaching in American thought for undergraduates and graduate students alike. The American Intellectual Tradition provides a comprehensive survey ranging from Puritan theology to postmodern critical theory." - James T. Kloppenberg, Harvard University

Traces the evolution of American intellectual writing and thinking from its origins in Puritan beliefs to the most recent essays on diversity and postmodernity.

Revised and updated, the seventh edition of this now standard two-volume anthology brings together some of the most historically significant writings in American intellectual history. Uniquely comprehensive, The American Intellectual Tradition includes classic works in philosophy, religion, social theory, political thought, economics, psychology, and cultural and literary criticism. Organized chronologically into thematic sections, the two volumes trace the evolution of American intellectual writing and thinking from its origins in Puritan beliefs to the most recent essays on diversity and postmodernity.

New to This Edition

· New selections reflecting recent developments in historical scholarship
· New selections by Samuel Stanhope Smith, Bronson Alcott, Francis Lieber, and others reflecting the increase in scholarly work on early racial science, educational theory, and American nationalism
· New selections on recent public debates about American "exceptionalism," religion, globalization, race, science, and technology, including Philip Kitcher on atheism, Norbert Wiener on cybernetics, and Francis Fukayama on the geopolitical dynamics of the late twentieth century

Distinctive Features

· Comprehensive sourcebooks that present an overview of the prominent American attitudes, ideas, and arguments from our Puritan founding to post-modernity.
· The documents are organized around general themes or movements that have fostered extensive debate within the U.S., e.g. religion, science, art, politics, social and economic practices.
· The documents represent a good range of genres, i.e. sermons, essays, political treatises, orations, that enable extensive analysis.
· Most of the documents collected appear in their complete, or nearly complete, form, i.e. essays, addresses, or chapters of books, maintaining the intellectual and rhetorical integrity of the work.
· Headnotes highlight the internal content of each document as well as the context in which it was produced.
· Each Part begins with a brief introduction to frame the ideas that will be discussed in that section and its importance in U.S. history.

DH: Preston Hotchkis Professor of American History and Department Chair at the University of California, Berkeley (Ph. D. at the University of California, Berkeley); specializes in intelllectual and cultural history of the U.S. Books include: Cosmopolitanism and Solidarity (University of Wisconsin Press, 2006), The Humanities and the Dynamics of Inclusion Since World War Two (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), co-editor of Reappraising Oppenheimer: Centennial Studies and Reflections (University of California, Berkeley Press, 2005).CC: Professor of History at Boston University (Ph. D. at the University of California, Berkeley); specializes in intellectual and cultural history of the U.S. Books inlcude: Margaret Fuller (Oxford University Press, 2007) and co-editor of Transient and Permanent (Northeastern University Press, 1999).