Liberty, one of the most consequential words in our language, is one of the most treasured concepts in American thought--and one of the most intensely debated. Its meaning is constantly shifting, changing not only from one culture to another but also, over time, within the same culture. No two definitions of liberty seem alike.   In this subtle and illuminating work Michael Kammen traces the evolving concept of liberty throughout American history and provides a solid framework for understanding the meaning of the term today. He shows that by the early seventeenth century a tension between liberty and authority was well recognized. Throughout the eighteenth century and especially during the American Revolution a bond between liberty and property was asserted. By the end of the eighteenth century this concept of liberty was so well established that it remained dominant throughout the nineteenth. By the early twentieth century, as the notion of social justice gained prominence, liberty and justice were paired frequently, and by midcentury the two had become allied to general American values. Since the 1960s the union of liberty and equality has been the prevailing notion, and achieving them has proved a major objective.   In a lively and learned manner Kammen also shows that Americans have subscribed to different definitions of liberty concurrently. Above all, there has been a steady expansion of what is embraced by the concept of liberty. This expansion has created difficulties in public discourse, causing groups to misunderstand one another. On the other hand, interpretations of liberty have broadened to include such concepts as constraints on authority, a right to privacy, and the protection of personal freedoms.   In a new preface for this Banner Books edition Kammen responds to evaluations of earlier editions and places his views within the context of more recent studies.   Michael Kammen, a professor of American history and culture at Cornell University, is the author of American Culture, American Tastes: Social Change and the 20th Century and In the Past Lane: Historical Perspectives on American Culture.

Spheres of Liberty: Changing Perceptions of Liberty in American Culture

Politics & Social Sciences

Kammen, Michael G.

Politics & Government

Univ of Wisconsin Pr

In this volume, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Michael Kammen explores the U.S. Constitution's place in the public consciousness and its role as a symbol in American life, from ratification in 1788 to our own time. As he examines what the Constitution has meant to the American people (perceptions and misperceptions, uses and abuses, knowledge and ignorance), Kammen shows that although there are recurrent declarations of reverence most of us neither know nor fully understand our Constitution. How did this gap between ideal and reality come about? To explain it, Kammen examines the complex and contradictory feelings about the Constitution that emerged during its preparation and that have been with us ever since. He begins with our confusion as to the kind of Union we created, especially with regard to how much sovereignty the states actually surrendered to the central government. This confusion is the source of the constitutional crisis that led to the Civil War and its aftermath. Kammen also describes and analyzes changing perceptions of the differences and similarities between the British and American constitutions; turn-of-the-century debates about states' rights versus national authority; and disagreements about how easy or difficult it ought to be to amend the Constitution. Moving into the twentieth century, he notes the development of a "cult of the Constitution" following World War I, and the conflict over policy issues that persisted despite a shared commitment to the Constitution.

A Machine That Would Go of Itself: The Constitution in American Culture

History

HAYDEN

Americas

Bedford/St.Martins

Deputyes & libertyes: The origins of representative government in colonial America

KNOPF

Focusing on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the author examines the factors and institutions that have shaped the American character and culture

People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization

World

Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.

"Michael Kammen is an historian of culture, and his expertise goes much wider than the politics, the diplomatics, the economics, and even the sociologies that preoccupy the ordinary historian. In particular, he knows far more than he has any right to know about the literature that had grown in the revolutionary garden plot through more than two hundred years, and he is an acute analyst of the ways in which that literature reflects changing public attitudes and moralities . . .\n"The result is an exhilarating discussion of the ambiguous relationships between traitor and patriot, revolutionary and loyalist, innovator and conservative, romantic natural goodness and a rational skepticism about the damned human race. His book is a thoughtful and informed and stimulating study. " —WALLACE STEGNER\nWhat has the American Revolution meant to Americans during the two centuries since it began? In his new book, the distinguished historian Michael Kammen, author of the Pulitzer Price-winning People of Paradox, once again dispels the mists of cultural misunderstanding and national self-deception as he reveals to us how this, the most central event in out past, has been seen by those in the mainstream of our culture as well as by dissenting social critics. The result (as the advance praise above and on the back of the jacket attests) is a fresh and unprecedented contribution to American historical writing and to American self-knowledge.\nTo answer his crucial question about the meaning of the American Revolution, Professor Kammen has examined popular histories and biographies; contemporary orations, newspaper articles, and broadsides; historical novels from James Fenimore Cooper's to Gore Vidal's Burr; theatrical productions from William Dunlap's André to the recent musical 1776; historical poetry from the nostalgic nationalism of Oliver Wendell Holmes to the informed cynicism of Ezra Pound's "John Adams Cantos"; the treatment of historical themes by painters as diverse in style and intuition as the meticulously accurate John Trumbull (whose work is popularly misread as inspirational) to the irreverent Larry Rivers. What emerges is a strikingly original interpretation of the American revolution as a national rite of passage—a "season of youth" to all subsequent generations—and a brilliantly sustained meditation on the fragile nature and role of tradition in American life.

A season of youth: The American Revolution and the historical imagination

People of paradox;: An inquiry concerning the origins of American civilization, [paperback] Kammen, Michael G [Jan 01, 1973]

People of paradox;: An inquiry concerning the origins of American civilization,

Vintage Books

A Rope of Sand;: The colonial agents, British politics, and the American Revolution

A rope of sand;: The colonial agents, British politics, and the American Revolution

Today, New York stands as the capital of American culture, business, and cosmopolitanism. Its size, influence, and multicultural composition mark it as a corner-stone of our country. The rich and varied history of early New York would seem to present a fertile topic for investigation to those interested colonial America. Yet, there has never been a modern history of old New York--until this lively and detailed account by Michael Kammen.    Gracefully written and comprehensive in scope, Colonial New York includes all of the political, social, economic, cultural, and religious aspects of New York's formative centuries. Social and ethnic diversity have always been characteristic of New York, and this was never so evident as in its early years. This period provides the contemporary reader with a backward glance at what the United States would become in the twentieth-century. Colonial New York stood as a precursor of American society and culture as a whole: a broad model of the American experience we witness today.   Kammen's history is enlivened by a look at some of the larger-than-life personalities who had tremendous impact on the many social and political adjustments necessary to the colony's continued growth. Here we meet Peter Stuyvesant, director of New Netherland and an executive of the West India Company--a man facing the innumerable difficulties of governing a large, sprawling colony divided by Dutch, English, and Indian settlements. Ultimately, history would view him as a failure, but his strong, Calvinist approach left such an indelible stamp on the burgeoning colony that readers will be tempted to do a little revisionist thinking about his tenure. Looking at a later governor, Lord Cornbury, gives us the very opposite example of a man despised by his contemporaries as the most venal of all the colonial governors (he was an occasional public cross-dresser, wearing the clothes of his distant cousin, Queen Anne), but who forcefully guided the colony through a transition to Anglican rule. The book culminates in chapters that investigate New York's strategic role in the bloody French and Indian War, and the key part it played in the economic protests and political conflict that finally led to American independence.    The intricate and tangled web of alliances, loyalties, and shifting political ground that underlies much of colonial New York's past has clearly daunted many historians from taking on the task of writing an understandable account. Michael Kammen has accepted this challenge and gives us much more than a mere chronicle. Rather, he paints a compelling portrait of colonial life as it truly was.  Although this important book is thorough and informed by primary sources, Colonial New York's clear and vivid prose offers a delightful narrative that will entertain both general readers and serious scholars alike. It pays special attention to localities and contains numerous illustrations that are attentive to the decorative arts and the material culture of early New York.    Surprising and enlightening, Colonial New York is a delight to read and provides new perspectives on our nation's beginnings.

Colonial New York: A History

Kraus Intl Pubns

The Contrapuntal Civilization: Essays Toward a New Understanding of the American Experience

Crowell

Mylar protected dust jacket is edge worn, rubbed, and price clipped.

Rope of Sand: The Colonial Agents, British Politics, and the American Revolution

Cornell University Press

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