The American Exception, Volume 1
This book examines what makes the United States an exceptional society, what impact it has had abroad, and why these issues have mattered to Americans. With historical and comparative evidence, Frank J. Lechner describes the distinctive path of American i
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american exception volume 1 Frank J. Lechner
The American Exception, Volume 1
Frank J. Lechner
The American Exception, Volume 1
Frank J. Lechner Department of Sociology Emory University Atlanta, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-58716-9 ISBN 978-1-137-58717-6 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-58717-6 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016957035 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 On page 154 a table appears that was originally published in the book The American Illness edited by F.H. Buckley (Yale University Press, 2013) This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Leigh Prather / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
To my parents-in-law and fellow immigrants Gordon Arthur Webster and Audrey Molineux Webster
Preface
When I decided to move from the Netherlands to the United States for graduate study in 1979, I asked my main advisers, Hans Adriaansens and Anton Zijderveld, to suggest books I should read in advance. As I recall, they mentioned Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America and Max Lerner’s America as a Civilization. I enjoyed reading both, but they did not quite serve my purpose, as I naively looked for a single source that could tell me how contemporary American society worked. After I had lived in the U.S. for several decades, teaching at Emory University, I decided to try and write the book I did not find all those years ago. This is it. I hope some current versions of my younger student self, from Tilburg to Shanghai, will find it useful. The book did not turn out exactly as I had envisioned then. The reason is simple: no one text could satisfy the kind of curiosity that led me to move to the U.S. in the first place. But while the book that follows does not try to explain how all of American society
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