The story of America : essays on origins / Jill Lepore.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lepore, Jill, 1966-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--History--Sources.

United States.

United States--Politics and government--Sources.

History--Sources.

Politics and government--Sources.

Local Subjects:

United States--History--Sources.

United States--Politics and government--Sources.

Genre:

History.

Sources.

Physical Description:

viii, 416 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, ©2012.

Summary:

In this book, the author investigates American origin stories, from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address, in order to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. It excavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I.O.U. and the dictionary. It presents readings of Benjamin Franklin's Way to Wealth, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression. From past to present, the author argues, Americans have wrestled with the idea of democracy by telling stories; here, she offers both a history of origin stories and a meditation on storytelling itself.

Contents:

Here he lyes

A pilgrim passed I

The way to wealth

The age of Paine

We the parchment

I.O.U.

A Nue Merrykin Dikshunary

His Highness

Man of the people

Pickwick in America

The humbug

President Tom's cabin

Pride of the prairie

Longfellow's ride

Rock, paper, scissors

Objection

Chan the man

The uprooted

Rap sheet

To wit.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780691153995

069115399X

9780691159591

0691159599

OCLC:

788266158

Publisher Number:

40021398806

Online:

Book review (H-Net)