Concisely written and compelling, this book offers a provocative
look at European-American relations. It focuses on the tradition of
common political ideas, the original roots of common European and
American thought, the decision by the two continents not to develop
in isolation from one another, and the traditional ambivalence of
the European caught indecisively between reliance upon and distance
from the United States. From classical antiquity to contemporary
society, Mathiopoulos unfolds the paradoxical relationship between
the U.S. and Europe--the simultaneous occurrence of reciprocal
attraction and mutual misunderstanding. She describes how America
was born of European intellectual stock; enlightenment, reason,
(religious) freedom, equality, democracy, the rights of man and the
desire to achieve these things in the New World. She also tells us
that the idealism of progress of the European enlightenment gave
rise to the American Dream which constitutes the consciousness of
the American people and is woven into their domestic and foreign
policy to this day. This stimulating book will interest anyone
involved in the field of comparative political thought as well as
those interested in the evolutionary and revolutionary process of
the idea of progress in Europe and the United States.
The idea of progress forms the core "History and ProgresS."
Mathiopoulos shows that faith in progress and the desire for a
better world have been the major stimuli for historical change in
the modern world. She describes how Europe gave birth to this idea
and throughout history became largely disenchanted with it. In
contrast, the United States inherited this concept and has utilized
it for over 200 years to maintain its sense of identity and
self-awareness. History and Progress explains not only how the idea
of progress inspired the founding of America, but how the concept
provides momentum for the historical development of the nation to
the present. In short, the 'American DreaM' preserved the
progressive optimism projected by the Enlightenment in the United
States, even when it had since disappeared from European historical
thought.
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