E. International Influences: General

1717. Boorstin, Daniel J. America and the image of Europe: reflections on American thought. New York, Meridian Books [1960] 192 p. (Meridian books, M89) 60–6769 E169.1.B75

Eight essays treating the misconceptions which Americans harbor about their relationship to European culture, their history, and their national character. Boorstin is concerned with showing what isunique and distinct about the United States. He contends that Americans should stop judging their culture by decreasingly relevant European standards and should instead view themselves in the perspective of the non-European civilizations of Asia and Africa, in order to present a clearer image of their country to themselves and to the world.

1718. Jones, Howard Mumford. O strange new world; American culture: the formative years. New York, Viking Press [1964] xiv, 464 p. illus. 64–15062 E169.1.J644 1964

"Reference notes": p. 397–449.

Awarded the 1965 Pulitzer Prize in the general nonfiction category, this book is the first of a projected two-volume study of the effect of the Old World civilizations on the New. Beginning with Christopher Columbus’ first report from the Nina in 1493 and continuing to the 1840’s, the author traces European influences on the development of American culture. "The Old World projected into the New a rich, complex, and contradictory set of habits, forces, practices, values, and presuppositions; and the New World accepted, modified, or rejected these or fused them with inventions of its own." Jones marshals large bodies of detailed information in illustration of a wide range of provocative ideas. Reviewing the economic, political, religions, literary, artistic, and sociological aspects of the classical Greek and Roman civilizations, he relates them to the Spanish, English, Dutch, Portuguese, German, and French cultures which contributed to the American mind.

1719. Joseph, Franz M., ed. As others see us; the United States through foreign eyes. With contributions by Raymond Aron [and others] Princeton, N.J., Princeton University Press, 1959. 360 p. 59–13872 E169.1.J67

These essays by visitors from 20 nations on five continents resulted from a project of the American European Foundation and were written more or less simultaneously in 1957. Each author seeks to convey his impressions of the United States and to relate them to the image of this country which is generally held by his countrymen. The depth and perceptive qualities of the analyses are uneven and there is a remarkable sameness in much of the commentary, but valuable questions are posed, insights into our national character are offered, and the impact of modern America on these writers and their countries is illustrated.

1720. Skard, Sigmund. The American myth and the European mind; American studies in Europe, 1776–1960. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press [1961] 112 p. (Studies in American civilization) 61–15199 E175.8.S64

Four lectures which summarize and comment upon the author’s two-volume American Studies in Europe: Their History and Present Organization (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1958), cited on page 1081 in the 1960 Guide. He divides his subject into four periods, ending with 1865, 1918, 1945, and 1960, respectively, and in each describing the major developments in writing about America and the teaching of American subjects in the several European nations and concluding each chapter with thumbnail sketches of representative figures such as Johan Kortüm, M. Y. Ostrogorsky, and Charles Cestre. He stresses the degree to which radical or conservative sentiment has determined the fortunes of the subject and shows how American studies have been a symbolic issue in the efforts of European minds to transcend traditionalism and understand the modern world and their place in it.