The Story of American Freedom

Foner masterfully defines what freedom meant throughout the history of the US.

Being a self proclaimed philosopher by nature, I always find an exact definition of terms enlightening. What the words "freedom" and "liberty" have meant to different generations of Americans over the decades, I found very interesting. There are words that we all use that are really so general in nature, that without a clarifying definition no serous discussion can take place. Philosophers are always defining their terms. Mr. Foner is not defining terms. He is pointing out the confusion that results when even the simplest terms are taken into account. It is interesting that both the North and the South claimed to be fighting for freedom. Both the colonists and the British were fighting for freedom. The Axis and the Allies were each fighting for freedom. The difference is in how each side defines the word freedom. One side may want the freedom to rule while the other side wants freedom from rule. And of course the same argument and "spin" or slant on these issues goes on today. This was an excellent book but actually too big a topic for just one volume. Books written by Richard Noble: "Hobo-ing America: A Workingman's Tour of the U.S.A.." "A Summer with Charlie" "A Little Something: Poetry and Prose" "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother"

American's military forces are currently being placed in harm's way in Iraq, we are told, "to defend our freedoms." It is good at such times to place in perspective the freedoms for which Americans are dying. The burden of Eric Foner in this work is to chronicle the changing face of the words "liberty" and "freedom" in various periods of American history. Foner's work is a largely dispassionate chronicle of the meaning of liberty from the nation's founding to the present. His work sketches not only the idealistic glory, but also the self-serving and even chicanery associated with the concept throughout the unfolding of America's story. The framework of organization which Foner has chosen to house his story is chronological, using a chapter to cover each major epoch of American history. The choice of eras is traditional, beginning with the founding and moving through the Jacksonian development, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded and Progressive eras, World War I, the New Deal, World War II, the Cold War, the Sixties developments and the rebirth of conservativism a generation later. Within each chapter he uses three themes to guide his examination. First is that of how Americans have understood the idea of freedom. He looks at responses from political, economic, personal and Christian perspectives. Secondly he looks at the social conditions of freedom. Is it delimited by governmental authority, social pressure, or economic power? Under what conditions does it seem to prosper or suffer restriction? Thirdly he looks at who the people are who are entitled to enjoy the blessings of American freedom. Or, as he says, "Who is an American?" In my mind, the work suffers from one massive exception. Foner has no treatment of the period preceding the Revolutionary era. Considering the title word "Story," how could Foner neglect the story of Bradford and the Mayflower? Where is the gripping drama of Roger Williams' banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, with all its implications for liberty and America's future? Though Foner confesses his personal bias in the choices that had to be made in such a survey as this book project presents, he offers not a word of lament or explanation for ignoring this foundational and pivotal period. Almost every Presidential hopeful quotes from the "city built on a hill" metaphor which connects to the Pilgrims' self-conception from this period. I would like to have seen his sketch of liberty's vita during America's period of colonial infancy. Foner admits that his title, with its use of the word "Story," may be considered "postmodern," and as such, may imply he is not really doing history at all, except as one realizes that history is made by those who write about it, not by the actual events being written about. Foner allows his title to carry that ambiguity, even though his commitment to the craft of history is nobler than postmodernists would allow, because beyond its actual historical content , "freedom" is also

As Americans we have a tendancy to think of this country as the birthplace of freedom and enlightenment, that is just came to us naturally from the very beginning. Well, think again. We have not only thwarted freedom for women, minorities, immigrants and others, but our struggle for freedom has been long and is not over yet. This book also explains the differences in our meaning of the word freedom and how it has been used and manipulated by ever special interest group. This is a fascinating study and a compelling read. It should have been written, now it needs to be read. FIVE STARS!

It is often remarked that America is not a class society--because we don't, as a nation, speak in the language of class. Similarly, Foner shows us that each country has its own language and key terms, a paradigm of language with which to speak about issues. The word "Freedom" and "Liberty" are always used by Americans but for often divergent means. For example, before the civil war, freedom for a slave meant his physical freedom, for a northerner, it meant the freedom to use one's own labor and land, for a southern slave owner, freedom meant the freedom to use one's own property in human beings to gain economic freedom and independance. They all spoke the same language, but come to wildly different conclusions as to what that language meant, even though all sides saw "freedom" as an important concept. This is akin to today when both sides in the abortion debate appeal equally passionately about "consitutional rights." Foner shows how circumstances and time alter the meaning and implications of language, but keep the language itself remarkably consistent over the past 200 years. By showing this unity of lanugage Foner shows how one ideological movement can subtlely morph into another. For example, he shows how the Republicans of anti-bellum times who decried slavery because it kept labor from being free, were in large part the same people who came to beleive in social darwinism because once labor is free--it is simply a matter of sutvival of the fittest. A great book an an easy read for non-history experts

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.