- Hardcover: 444 pages
- Publisher: W. W. Norton & Co.; 1st Edition edition (11 Nov 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0393046656
- ISBN-13: 978-0393046656
- Product Dimensions: 22.9 x 17.8 x 4.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 996,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Freedom, Eric Foner writes, is "the oldest of clichés and the most modern of aspirations." But what does it mean to be free? For the people of the United States, the concept of "freedom"--and its counterpart, "liberty"--have had widely differing meanings over the centuries. The Story of American Freedom, therefore, "is not a mythic saga with a predetermined beginning and conclusion, but an open-ended history of accomplishment and failure, a record of a people forever contending about the crucial ideas of their political culture."
Foner begins with the colonial era, when the Puritans believed that liberty was rooted in voluntary submission to God and civil authorities, and consisted only in the right to do good. John Locke, too, would argue that liberty did not consist of the lack of restraint, but of "a standing rule to live by, common to every one of that society, and made by the legislative power." Foner reveals the ideological conflicts that lay at the heart of the American Revolution and the Civil War, the shifts in thought about what freedom is and to whom it should apply. Adeptly charting the major trends of 20th-century American politics--including the invocation of freedom as a call to arms in both world wars--Foner concludes by contrasting the two prevalent movements of the 1990s: the liberal articulation of freedom, grounded in Johnson's Great Society and the rhetoric of the New Left, as the provision of civil rights and economic opportunity for all citizens, and the conservative vision, perhaps most fully realized during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, of a free-market economy and decentralized political power. The Story of American Freedom is a sweeping synthesis, delivered in clearheaded language that makes the ongoing nature of the American dream accessible to all readers. --Ron Hogan, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Freedom: a promised land, a battleground, America's cultural bond and fault line. The Declaration of Independence lists liberty among mankind's inalienable rights; the Constitution was framed to secure liberty's blessings. The United States bought the Civil War to bring about a new birth of freedom, World War II for the Four Freedoms, and the Cold War to defend the Free World.
In Eric Foner's stirring history, freedom's story unfolds through aspiration and sacrifice, its meaning shaped not only in congressional debates and political treatises, but on plantations and picket lines, in parlors and bedrooms. Its cast of characters ranges from Thomas Jefferson to Margaret Sanger to Franklin D. Roosevelt; from former slaves seeking to breathe real meaning into emancipation to the union organizers, freedom riders, and women's rights advocates of our time.
This landmark history shows the story of American freedom to be not a mythic saga but a vital, open-ended tale of accomplishment and failure, a record of a people forever contending over the crucial ideas of their political culture.
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AMERICAN FREEDOM was born in revolution. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
AMERICAN FREEDOM was born in revolution. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Eric Foner is a marvellous historian who has written a number of books on the American Civil War and the post-war Reconstruction including the brilliant Reconstruction which is practically the standard overview of that period. In his "The Story of American Freedom" he widens his view to encompass the concept of Freedom, its changing and fought over meanings in the whole period of American history from the War of Independence to the end of the twentieth century.
In a remarkably restrained manner, given the contentiousness of the matter he's dealing with, Foner takes us through the debates that surrounded the formation of the American constitution, how the founders rationalised their "free" State with Slavery. In the early years of the Republic leading up to the Civil War itself he covers the debates between free and slave labour and covers the expansion of the United States West at the expense of Mexico and the Native Americans. The sections that cover the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction are, as to be expected, excellent summaries of those times. The book then moves on to cover the Populist and Progressive era, World War One and the subsequent "Red Scare" before moving on to the Depression and the heated debates about the economic aspects of Freedom and what the role of the State was to promote economic freedom for ordinary Americans when the "free" market had so obviously failed. The Cold War, from McCarthyism to Regans support of "freedom" fighters in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola is also covered as well as the blossoming of dissent during the 1960's during the Vietnam war and after the stultifying McCarthyite era. The book as a whole deals with what freedom meant in terms of personal liberties, as well as the economic and political spheres. It would have been nice to get his view on the reign of Bush II but unfortunately the book was written in the late 1990's.
The Text is accompanied by a number of illustrations that are indicative of different eras and interests attitude to freedom. The typeface is awful, but one gets used to it after the first couple of chapters. If you want a good introduction which deals with the concept of "freedom" as argued and fought over in the United States this book fits the bill admirably. Other books that cover specific periods in more detail would include Foners book on Reconstruction cited above, for McCarthyism Ellen Schreckers The Age of McCarthyism, for the Cold War period as a whole Francis Stonor Saunders Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War. Edward Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia is an excellent study of a specific geographical area that covers the contradiction between freedom and slavery in a manner that is relevant to the American experience as a whole.
In a remarkably restrained manner, given the contentiousness of the matter he's dealing with, Foner takes us through the debates that surrounded the formation of the American constitution, how the founders rationalised their "free" State with Slavery. In the early years of the Republic leading up to the Civil War itself he covers the debates between free and slave labour and covers the expansion of the United States West at the expense of Mexico and the Native Americans. The sections that cover the Civil War and the period of Reconstruction are, as to be expected, excellent summaries of those times. The book then moves on to cover the Populist and Progressive era, World War One and the subsequent "Red Scare" before moving on to the Depression and the heated debates about the economic aspects of Freedom and what the role of the State was to promote economic freedom for ordinary Americans when the "free" market had so obviously failed. The Cold War, from McCarthyism to Regans support of "freedom" fighters in Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Angola is also covered as well as the blossoming of dissent during the 1960's during the Vietnam war and after the stultifying McCarthyite era. The book as a whole deals with what freedom meant in terms of personal liberties, as well as the economic and political spheres. It would have been nice to get his view on the reign of Bush II but unfortunately the book was written in the late 1990's.
The Text is accompanied by a number of illustrations that are indicative of different eras and interests attitude to freedom. The typeface is awful, but one gets used to it after the first couple of chapters. If you want a good introduction which deals with the concept of "freedom" as argued and fought over in the United States this book fits the bill admirably. Other books that cover specific periods in more detail would include Foners book on Reconstruction cited above, for McCarthyism Ellen Schreckers The Age of McCarthyism, for the Cold War period as a whole Francis Stonor Saunders Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War. Edward Morgan's American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia is an excellent study of a specific geographical area that covers the contradiction between freedom and slavery in a manner that is relevant to the American experience as a whole.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
24 reviews
24 of 29 people found the following review helpful
A complex analysis of the central idea of American history
16 Jun 1999
Format:Hardcover
I first became acquainted with Eric Foner through his masterful "Reconstruction," a book of history that illuminated modern problems and prospects through a detailed look at their historical roots perhaps better than any other I have read. Taken in and of itself I have not found another book on the Reconstruction period that is as good, or as deep, or as well written. "Freedom" seems to be a different kind of work, an intellectual history that tested my abilities in a way that "factual" history does not. Even as he describes the shifts, subtle and overt, that have either dragged, or been dragged, by concepts of freedom, he never seems to lose the sense of the impelling force of that concept. This is a great book for students of history, and of America, since it is a superb inquiry into our commitment to an ideal so powerful that it has been a driving force throughout the world in this latter half of the century. It is also a great book for those interested in political life generally. It entertains and challenges, and teaches even amateurs like me.
14 of 17 people found the following review helpful
A well-done, comparative study of freedom
16 Mar 2000
Format:Hardcover
The idea of freedom in American history seems to have gone through a series of cycles and metamorphic changes to suit a variety of social, political, and economic changes. These changes constitute a history in and of itself which goes far to define what freedom means to America's diverse population. Eric Foner's book "The Story of American Freedom" seeks to narrate that interesting history. Foner basically breaks down the meaning of freedom into two distinct spheres. Freedom of the individual to do as he/she pleases without government interference and, second, freedom that is supported by government intervention. Foner makes interesting points when he reveals that our nation's idea of freedom started out as socially narrow and then expanded to include other races and women as well. Economically, as demonstrated during the Gilded Age, freedom was to be enjoyed by those who fit the Darwinian ideal and denied to those who fell short of it. During the Progressive era, Foner illustrates that freedom was defined as government regulations on labor, food safety, and child labor laws meant to ensure the right to a better lifestyle. Throughout the book, Foner brilliantly narrates how the idea of freedom was tailored for political purposes for both the Left and the Right. I really enjoyed this book. Both a critique and a narrative of the idea of freedom, Foner's book provides a comprehensive overview of this all-pervasive concept. While I found it to be a little biased in its treatement of the 1960's (which prevents a 5-star rating) I nevertheless found it to be a well organized and well documented book (the pages of footnotes being very detailed). A must for an understanding of such an over-generalized concept.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Readable history is not an oxymoron!
26 Oct 1998
Format:Hardcover
Ever wonder why so many people disagree about what freedom means? Foner explains that freedom means social freedom to some, freedom from governmental interference to many, and economic freedom to yet others. Better yet he explains where these sometimes complementary and sometimes conflicting ideas come from in the American experience. Very readable, Foner is gifted and secure enough to write a scholarly book that can be enjoyed by those of us who are not history professors.
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