A Nation Among Nations

In A Nation among Nations, Thomas Bender articulates the changes he sees as fundamental to American history by locating them within a global framework. Bender illustrates both the significance and triviality of America's global engagements over the span of five centuries. Bender engagement centers on five major themes: The "Ocean World," the "Great War," Freedom in an Age of Nation-Making, Empire, and the Transformation of Liberalism in an Industrial World. Bender opens with 1492 and "the age of discovery," when people the world over first felt change brought on by oceanic trade. Bender challenges us to see our Revolution, unlike Wood, as one of a number of analogous uprisings around the world, and the Civil War as piece of a broader history linking the new denotation of nationhood with freedom. Bender moreover looks at the American investment in empire starting with Jefferson's administration to contemporary time. Bender argues that America's reaction to capitalist industrialization and urbanization was part of a larger international dialogue.

Despite its deceiving title, this is one of the best books explaining why America is not only the United States, and why the United States is not an exceptional nation. It also convincingly demonstrates that the year 1492 is the key (or the major key) of modern, planetary, history.

Since 1500 the world has participated in a single global history - yet American historians tend to treat this country as though its history were isolated from that of the world. Here's a new interpretation of American history, setting it within context of international influences. From colonization patterns and objectives to decision-making processes which reached around the world - in both directions - A NATION AMONG NATIONS: AMERICA'S PLACE IN WORLD HISTORY is a remarkable series of connections between American events and world influence, drawn by a history professor with a dozen books to his name. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

I picked this work up at the local public library recently. I read the blurb and some of the mini-reviews and then I approached the book with fear and trepidation because I was not fond of the idea of some of my cherished notions of U.S. history being upset. I was all wet. I am now plowing through this very enlightening and easily read book and I am now forming new cherished notions of U.S. history.