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

by Michael Kammen

From the beginning, what has given our culture its distinctive texture, pattern, and thrust, according to Michael Kammen, is the dynamic interaction of the imported and the indigenous.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Political Science, American History

368 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Michael Gedaliah Kammen was a professor of American cultural history at Cornell University. He won the Pulitzer Prize (History, 1973) for his book, People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization.

Reviews

[Brian Hilliker · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me to provide extensive detail into the character of this book, would be unfair to the individual who penned it. All I can say, is that this is a must read for any historian attempting to understand the character of the American spirit. We are a nation-state of contradiction and paradox, and this book proves that two things can be true at the same time. We are, most definitely, a people mixed with "hopeful good and curable bad." I am grateful to have a read a book that has both challenged and re-assured me about the direction America will take in the future.

[Nathanael Greene Slater · Rating 5 out of 5]

c.1973 Ithaca; Cornell University arts quad conversations

[Ashlen Cartwright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant book!! Has strongly influenced how I understand American society.

[Mark Valentine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kammen has a fascinating premise: "To highlight the figure in the carpet" that we have all trod over without recognizing, he suggests an heuristic approach to reading American history, one that allows for paradoxes to exist without cancellation or elimination. These paradoxes include optimism/pessimism, faith/agnosticism, control/servitude, and progression/regression. He coins the term, biformity, to represent this dual existence and, I suppose, the term although clumsy is better than bipolar.

His exhaustive evidence presented sweeps over the Colonial and Revolutionary eras in American and European history. It is erudite and at time pedantic, but nevertheless, worthwhile and instructive.

[Leanne Hoffmann]

Liteally on my shelf

[!Tæmbuŝu]

KOBOBOOKS

[Maureen · Rating 3 out of 5]

from david brooks' reading list. a little too heady.