The Ideas That Made America
A Brief History

What a delightful survey of philosophical thought that had shaped and tempered the American ethos. At times there’s a bit of a tennis match going on of bouncing back-and-forth across decades to attempt to unify very different philosophers into a cohesive narrative. I found this a little bit confusin......more

In The Ideas That Made America,, Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen provides a brief intellectual history of the United States from the first European contact to the present day, focusing on the movement of ideas across national and local borders and across time. Recognizing that new ideas are always depend......more

As will be the case with any book covering this much territory in under 200 pages, this provides the view from about 40,000 feet, but it's hard to imagine a more sure-handed pilot than Ratner-Rosenhagen. In the areas I know best--African-American, late 20th century--I would have tweaked a few things......more

Kind of refreshing to read/hear a history of ideas in which the author really does skip over historical events like WWI to focus on intellectual currents. But she never does come to grips with just how broadly influential the various movements were in shaping American culture--I was hoping for some......more

This volume provides a chronological sequence of philosophical thinking in America over the last few hundred years. While certainly informative, it acts largely as a guide to lots of other books to read, and so is more of an encyclopedia than a deep discussion. Though, if she had gone deep on these......more