American Future, The A History

In November 2008 the United States will elect a new President. But the imminent collapse of twenty years of Republican conservativism means the country is already conducting an intense self-examination about the trajectory of its history; how it came to find itself in multiple crises and how an America that began as the last best hope for mankind came to be so suspected and vilified around much of the world. 1) The American Future- A History, written by an author who has spent half his life there, takes the long view of how the United States has come to this anguished moment of truth about its own identity as a nation and its place in the world. 2) In each of the chapters devoted to the most compelling issues facing Americans now the projection of power ( American war ) ; race, immigration and the problematic promise of e pluribus unum ( American skin ); the intensity of religious conviction in public life ( American fervour ) ; the mystique of American land ( American Space ) and its battles with the imperatives of profit - Schama traces the deep history of the present crisis. 3) Cumulatively the chapters build into a history of American exceptionalism the American di

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York, and was awarded a C.B.E. in the 2001 New Year's Honours List. Since 1995 he has been art and culture critic for The New Yorker and essayist for The Guardian. His award-winning books include Citizens; Rembrandt's Eyes and the History of Britain trilogy. His most recent book, Simon Schama's Power of Art, was published to critical acclaim in 2006.