A Nation Among Nations

By Thomas Bender

Book Overview

A provocative new book that shows us why we must put American history firmly in a global context--from 1492 to today

Americans like to tell their country's story as if the United States were naturally autonomous and self-sufficient, with characters, ideas, and situations unique to itself. Thomas Bender asks us to rethink this "exceptionalism" and to reconsider the conventional narrative. He proposes that America has grappled with circumstances, doctrines, new developments, and events that other nations, too, have faced, and that we can only benefit from recognizing this.

Bender's exciting argument begins with the discovery of the Americas at a time when peoples everywhere first felt the transforming effects of oceanic travel and trade. He then reconsiders our founding Revolution, occurring in an age of rebellion on many continents; the Civil War, happening when many countries were redefining their core beliefs about the nature of freedom and the meaning of nationhood; and the later imperialism that pitted the United States against Germany, Spain, France, and England. Industrialism and urbanization, laissez-faire economics, capitalism and socialism, and new technologies are other factors that Bender views in the light of global developments.

A Nation Among Nations is a passionate, persuasive book that makes clear what damage is done when we let the old view of America alone in the world falsify our history. Bender boldly challenges us to think beyond our borders.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0809072351
• ISBN13: 9780809072354
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Hill & Wang
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

America and the World

In A Nation among Nations, Thomas Bender articulates the changes he sees as fundamental to American history by locating them within a global framework. Bender illustrates both the significance and triviality of America's global engagements over the span of five centuries. Bender engagement centers on five major themes: The "Ocean World," the "Great War," Freedom in an Age of Nation-Making, Empire, and the Transformation of Liberalism in an Industrial World. Bender opens with 1492 and "the age of discovery," when people the world over first felt change brought on by oceanic trade. Bender challenges us to see our Revolution, unlike Wood, as one of a number of analogous uprisings around the world, and the Civil War as piece of a broader history linking the new denotation of nationhood with freedom. Bender moreover looks at the American investment in empire starting with Jefferson's administration to contemporary time. Bender argues that America's reaction to capitalist industrialization and urbanization was part of a larger international dialogue.

Excelent

Despite its deceiving title, this is one of the best books explaining why America is not only the United States, and why the United States is not an exceptional nation. It also convincingly demonstrates that the year 1492 is the key (or the major key) of modern, planetary, history.

A remarkable series of connections between American events and world influence

Since 1500 the world has participated in a single global history - yet American historians tend to treat this country as though its history were isolated from that of the world. Here's a new interpretation of American history, setting it within context of international influences. From colonization patterns and objectives to decision-making processes which reached around the world - in both directions - A NATION AMONG NATIONS: AMERICA'S PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY is a remarkable series of connections between American events and world influence, drawn by a history professor with a dozen books to his name. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Walk softly...

I picked this work up at the local public library recently. I read the blurb and some of the mini-reviews and then I approached the book with fear and trepidation because I was not fond of the idea of some of my cherished notions of U.S. history being upset. I was all wet. I am now plowing through this very enlightening and easily read book and I am now forming new cherished notions of U.S. history.