Observing America : The Commentary of British Visitors to the United States, 1890–1950 / Robert Frankel.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Frankel, Robert Perry, 1958-

Series:

Studies in American thought and culture.

Studies in American thought and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intellectuals--Travel--United States.

Intellectuals.

Intellectuals--Great Britain--Attitudes.

Public opinion--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Public opinion.

National characteristics, American--Public opinion.

National characteristics, American.

United States--Civilization--Foreign public opinion, British--History--20th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

xvi, 318 p.

Place of Publication:

Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, c2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Beginning with Alexis de Tocqueville and Frances Trollope, visitors to America have written some of the most penetrating and, occasionally, scathing commentaries on U.S. politics and culture. "Observing America" focuses on four of the most insightful British commentators on America between 1890 and 1950. The colorful journalist W. T. Stead championed Anglo-American unity while plunging into reform efforts in Chicago. The versatile writer H. G. Wells fiercely criticized capitalist America but found reason for hope in the administrations of Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt. G. K. Chesterton, one of England's great men of letters, urged Americans to preserve the vestiges of Jeffersonian democracy that he still discerned in the small towns of the heartland. And the influential political theorist and activist Harold Laski assailed the business ethos that he believed dominated the nation, especially after Franklin Roosevelt's death. Robert Frankel examines the New World experiences of these commentators and the books they wrote about America. He also probes similar writings by other prominent observers from the British Isles, including Beatrice Webb, Rudyard Kipling, and George Bernard Shaw. The result is a book that offers keen insights into America's national identity in a time of vast political and cultural change.

Contents:

The plight of the cities : W.T. Stead and 1890's urban America

The bonds of blood : W.T. Stead's vision of Anglo-American unity at the turn of the century

The promise of America : H.G. Wells and the progressive era

The global stage : H.G. Wells on America's emergence in the First World War

Main street America : G.K. Chesterton and the culture of the United States in the 1920's

The new deals : Harold Laski, H.G. Wells, and Roosevelt's America versus Stalin's Russia

The businessman's America : Harold Laski's view of the United States in the 1940's

Conclusion : lost republic, lost tradition.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-305) and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9786612270239

9781282270237

1282270230

9780299218836

029921883X

OCLC:

318240510

Publisher Number:

2027/heb08789 hdl