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The American Future: A History | 
| Author: Simon Schama
Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
Category: Book
List Price: £20.00
Buy New: £12.00
You Save: £8.00 (40%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 164
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 400
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.8
Dimensions (in): 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.6
ISBN: 1847920004
EAN: 9781847920003
ASIN: 1847920004
Publication Date: October 2, 2008
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. October 22, 2008
43 out of 44 found this review helpful
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it
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