Title

Portrait of a Nation: A Review of Claude Fischer's 'Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character'

Author(s)

William Vance Trollinger, University of DaytonFollow

Document Type

Book Review

Publication Date

9-14-2011

Publication Source

The Christian Century

Abstract

The distinguished University of California sociologist Claude Fischer is unhappy with historians' failure to provide the grand narrative — in this case the grand narrative of American history. But instead of waiting for recalcitrant historians to tie up the "loose threads that comprise the study of American social history,'' Fischer provides his own metanarrative, neatly laid out in the introduction.

Fischer is convinced that there is an American national character that makes America exceptional and that its central feature is voluntarism, defined here as something like individualistic collegiality: We are "sovereign individuals,'' but we love to be in groups that we can leave when we so choose.

Inclusive pages

36-38

ISBN/ISSN

0009-5281

Document Version

Published Version

Comments

Publisher's statement required at the time of this posting: Subscriptions $65 per year, available from P. O. Box 429, Congers, NY 10920–0429. Or, call 800-208-4097. Website: christiancentury.org

Article is made available for download pending permission of the publisher.

Permission documentation is on file.

Copyright

Copyright © 2011, The Christian Century. From the Sept. 14, 2011, issue of The Christian Century.

Publisher

The Christian Century

Volume

128

Issue

19

Place of Publication

Chicago, IL

eCommons Citation

Trollinger, William Vance, "Portrait of a Nation: A Review of Claude Fischer's 'Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character'" (2011). History Faculty Publications. 28.
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/hst_fac_pub/28