The character of Americans. A book of readings

This provocative collection meets the demand for readings in a field of study which has attracted intense interest among historians and social scientists. The Character of Americans, now fully revised in a second edition, brings together in convenient form many of the basic documents, both historical and contemporary, in the investigation of American national character. Among them the reader will find materials from which to fashion or refashion an understanding of what it has meant and what it means to be an American. Particular attention is paid in this new edition to present issues and problems in American life, and to the relevance of the concept of American character to those problems.