American Mythos: Why Our Best Efforts to Be a Better Nation Fall Short

by Robert Wuthnow

Book Overview

America was built on stories: tales of grateful immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, Horatio Alger-style transformations, self-made men, and the Protestant work ethic. In this new book, renowned sociologist Robert Wuthnow examines these most American of stories--narratives about individualism, immigration, success, religion, and ethnicity--through the eyes of recent immigrants. In doing so, he demonstrates how the "American mythos" has both legitimized...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 069112504X
• ISBN13: 9780691125046
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Important Book

This is a very important read for those interested in American culture, American myth, and the construction of American identity. Wuthnow's use of immigrants is so key, because so much of the American mythos is invisible to Americans that simply blindly consume it, having less "formally" learned it.