I'll be teaching a class at the Freie Universität this summer on this topic, in the North American Studies department. I am wondering what I should have them read. So far I am considering:
1. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America.
2. Class: A Guide Through the American Status System, by Paul Fussell.
3. The American Religion, by Harold Bloom.
4. John Gunther, Inside U.S.A.; a longstanding favorite of mine.
5. State by State: A Panoramic Portrait of America, by Matt Weiland and Sean Wilsey.
6. American Exceptionalism: A Double-Edged Sword, by Seymour Martin Lipset.
7. Peter Baldwin, The Narcissism of Minor Differences: How American and Europe are Alike. I disagree with the premise of this book but nonetheless it may shake them out of their dogmatic slumbers.
8. Louis Hartz, The Liberal Tradition in America.
Albion's Seed is an excellent book but it is too long. What have I forgotten? Should I have more on Mormons?
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“We Are Doomed: Reclaiming Conservative Pessimism” by John Derbyshire.
de Tocqueville remains the single best description of American political culture I’ve seen, and it’s remarkable how well he holds up.
I’m not sure who your class is composed of, but you may want to require a general history of the US as well – (speaking as a Canadian) I would not assume that a foreign audience is as familiar as you might assume with, say, the civil war and its high-level context and repercussions, or with the goings on in the first half of the 20th century.
They will know much more about the US than an average American graduate student knows about Europe. SO do not worry.
Something by Studs Terkel? Working or Division Street, America, perhaps.
Selected Federalist and Anti-Federalist writings.
Lincoln speeches.
John Dewey, Liberalism and Social Action
Maybe Richard Bensel, Yankee Leviathan.
Beyond that, follow up on the Baldwin intuition and assign something properly comparative.
Bill Bryson’s “The Lost Continent” as something fun and entertaining, although I’m still peeved he skipped the entire Northwest.
I’d suggest more emphasis on the Civil War, slavery, and Reconstruction, as they quietly underlie so much of our political and cultural life even today.
I like Micklethwait and Wooldridge’s “The Right Nation” for something with a contemporary perspective on American politics.
While I think the students will have a command of the basics, I’d imagine they’ll come in with a very distorted view of American society. Baldwin may be a very useful corrective there, and maybe a nice counterpoint to Lipset.
My own personal bias also is that you can’t understand the United States without understanding the South. Something like Lassiter’s “The Silent Majority: Suburban Politics in the Sunbelt South” or Kruse’s “White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism” to my mind would be essential.
More Mormons? How about Rough Stone Rolling by Richard Bushman.
I would suggest a good book about the workings of Congress. Having grown up in Canada, I am very often surprised by how different the functioning of a Congressional system is than a Parliamentary system. The structure of institutions matters, and American political institutions are organized on lines that are very different from most European countries.
A People’s History of the United States, or, if you’re crunched for time, Lies My Teacher Told Me. John Taylor Gatto’s essay “Against School” is also fun.
The Fussel book on Class is good, but it’s also a bit dated. Be sure to point out that many of the specific examples (e.g., Unicorn pictures) Fussel offers may have been valid in the 80s, but not so much these days.
I am sorry to say that you have a pretty crummy list there T. 5-8 are horrific!
Try these instead:
1. Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Hunter Thompson
2. Custer Died for your Sins, Vine DeLoria
3. A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never do Again, David Foster Wallace
I enjoyed the collection of essays: ‘Understanding America: the anatomy of an exceptional nation” by Shuck and Wilson.
What about something like Nine Nations of North America, to give them a perspective on the major regional differences that are a defining feature of Europe, but their existance is less well known outside the US.
One of the biggest differences is the startup culture – one good book (amongst others) that captures the US startup culture is ‘Founders at Work’:
http://www.foundersatwork.com/
and “The Emerging Republican Majority” by Kevin Phillips is probably the best cultural overview I’ve seen of the US. It’s like a mini version of Hackett Fisher.
I second Angus’s suggestions. And you need more Civil War. If you want a flavor of Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas in short story length, have them read Fear and Loathing at the Kentucky Derby.
I second “Paranoid Style” and also the need to underscore the differences between the US legislative system and a parliamentary system. I worked for two foreign governments, and people found it very difficult to get their minds around the notion of separation of powers.
Cowboy Capitalism: European Myths, American Reality by Gersemann . A german defense of America. A german who love your country more than any commenter here
BTW, Hofstadter is totally overrated!
assuming you really mean books and film is off the table…
Mark Twain’s travelogues?
Kavalier and Clay?
Cheever?
Elmer Gantry?
MLK Jr’s Strength To Live?
Oh great… having just received my rejection letter from George Mason, I might turn up in Berlin this summer as the next best thing.
Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America. Randall Balmer.
The best look at the evangelical subculture I’ve found.
I second Ayn Rand – possibly The Fountainhead as it’s easier to get through then Atlas Shrugged. I agree that the literary value of her books is questionable, but her writing is very useful for those genuinely trying to understand how (USA) American motivations differ from European motivations.
Speaking as an American with European relatives,
The notable difference I find is that European “right” and “left” politics are quite different than American “right” and “left.”
From a European perspective, American right and left politics are much closer to the center.
From an American perspective, European right and left are much more extreme.
1. Studs Terkel, probably “Working”.
2. A few copies of “The Onion”. Let them consider the travails of Area Man.
I also suggest Lies My Teacher Told Me. That is an indirect tour of the myths that Americans believe about America.
The Culture of Critique, and Separation and Its Discontents, both by Kevin MacDonald.
First off, German coursework rarely is “read this book and we’ll dicuss in class”, so expect some cultural dissonance. I don’t think that’s a bad thing for anyone, so, go for whatever you are most comfortable with, though.
Germany is a democracy very different from the US, both in functional terms and in terms of expected behavior. German students will have expectations that clash with some of the more practical aspects of politics in the US.
Worth exploring
– Positions of political parties in the US (I typically joke that the religious right wing German parties are situated a bit to the left of the Democrats in the US)
– The mechanics of policymaking: how come the final words of a bill are not known before it’s being voted on and why do passed laws commonly contain passages not genuine to the issue/pork/etc
– Apathy, political and debate culture and the media: Why do Americans over the entire political spectrum put up with their political process and the blatant disinformation thrown around by career politicians? How can significant portions of the population hold counterfactual beliefs?
– Power politics: America shows no hesitation in waging costly wars without much provocation; it continues to reduce individual freedoms and liberties and is intervening heavily in global economic policy. This behavior clashes with stated policy objectives. What is behind it and where is America going?
Inside America = 1004 p in pb ;
Four British Folkways in America = 972 pp in pb.
“Too long” is a relative term ?
In addition to angus’ list, some other lit I would include are
Grapes of Wrath, Preacher (written by a Brit, but really captures the Texas attitude), Catcher in the Rye, and Starship Troopers.
Since “Albion’s Seed’ is too long,how about “Washington’s Crossing”, also by Hackett Fisher, who’s superlative at using micro-analysis of a single brief event to illuminate a whole period and society. Also absolutely gripping as war narrative. And – for your Germans – his sociological survey of the opposing armies includes a quite sympathetic account of the Hessians.
Somebody earlier said you need more on the Civil War. How about selections from Edmund Wilson’s “Patriotic Gore – Studies in the Literature of the American Civil War”, itself something of a landmark in American literature? I suggest the chapters on Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant.
Paul Johnson’s “History of the American People” for a witty, stylishly written conservative view?
By the way, I agree – John Gunther’s “Inside USA” is a minor masterpiece. The USA in 1946, the last moments of the country’s existence as just another nation, with the superpower transformation already upon it.
Something, anything, by Tom Wolfe.
Low Life, by Luc Sante.
If they want to understand American culture, something lighter might help as well. A collection of Dilbert or Calvin & Hobbes strips would add a different dimension.
Lots of good suggestions so far. To these, I would add:
_The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin_
Dos Passos _USA_
Zinn _A People’s History Of The United States_
_The Journals of Lewis & Clark_
David Hackett Fischer _Washington’s Crossing_
D. Peter MacLeod _Northern Armageddon: the battle of the Plains of Abraham†Ž_
All the books in your list are fantastic. May I suggest “Achieving Our Country”, by Rorty?
That chapter is by Andrew Moravcsik btw.
“Americanism:The Fourth Great Western Religion” ~ David Gelernter
More on Mormons? How about more on Quakers?
Agendas by John Kingdon (1984).
“Only in America” by Harry Golden
I would find a German book that most resembles an American one in spirit. Perhaps Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse. Since so many libertarianish bloggers listed Nietzsche in their most influential books list, maybe that’s a good offer. See how they react. Why do americans like these germans?
Or how have we appropriated German culture to fit the stories we tell about things that matter to us? Like the idea of genius. Read the play Amadeus.
“Ethnic America” by Thomas Sowell is a interesting discussion of the different experiences faced by different ethnic groups immigrating to America. It’s easier to read than “Albion’s Seed.” (I love “Special Providence,” but that’s highly recommended only if they want to discuss US foreign policy.)
I second A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
Also, some of the works of James Baldwin, for race relations.
If you’re thinking about literature, Moby-Dick or Huck Finn would be an obvious choice. Dreiser’s An American Tragedy might be too long. MOre recently, DeLillo’s “Pafko at the Wall” or Russell Banks’s Continental Drift would be good.
Show them the documentary series “Vote for Me!”, which I think was originally broadcast on public television around the 2000? 2004? national elections.
Race, as others have said, is not something your current reading list addresses. Letter from a Birmingham Jail is a great suggestion. On top of that, I would recommend Orlando Patterson’s The Ordeal of Integration. For something on the evolution of ideas in America, especially from the mid-1800s to the early 20th-century, I would recommend Louis Menand’s The Metaphysical Club.
Are these doctoral students or master’s students? The traditional first degree in German universities is a master’s, though bachelor’s are being introduced (and I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the norm in an North American Studies department). What kind of class are you going to teach (Vorlesung, seminar, proseminar, etc.)? Where it a Vorlesung (big lecture), you could include every suggestion on this page, and the student’s wouldn’t be expected to read much of it, such a syllabus being more of a list of suggested readings for going really in depth with the subject.
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