Self-made : the stories that forged an American myth / Pamela Walker Laird.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Laird, Pamela Walker, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Success--United States--History.

Success.

Individualism--United States--History.

Individualism.

American Dream.

Self-actualization (Psychology).

United States.

Physical Description:

xiii, 345 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Over four centuries, ambitious Americans have forged the myth of self-made success into an ideological tool that rewards individualism and promotes inequality. Pamela Laird's compelling history reveals roots of our current cultural and political divides and also highlights enduring traditions of self-improvement to serve the common good" -- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction. Challenging the myth of self-made success

A new world of ambition and judgment

Self-improvement for the common good in the eighteenth century

Work and merit in a new republic

The pollitics of self-making in a self-made nation

Forging origins in Antebellum stories

Character and money in mid-century

Gilded Age heroes

Competing stories of self-help before 1936

Stories against the New Deal

Targeting the common good, 1950-2000

The myth's twenty-first century victories.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

HSP Cedit Line: Page 66 - Bettering House or House of Employment, watercolor, 1828. David J. Kennedy watercolors [coll. V61]. Call number K:II-11, Box II

Other Format:

Online version: Laird, Pamela Walker, 1947- Self-made

ebook version :

ISBN:

9781108833899

1108833896

9781108987356

1108987354

OCLC:

1500171960

Publisher Number:

CIPO000272486