Book Report: The American Political Tradition

The American Political Tradition

Introduction

The author of the book, Richard Hofstadter, got his PhD in History in 1942 from Columbia University. He then decided to take up a career of a writer and for this he studied the history of politics. In the book, he has presented the readers with his personal analysis on America's most well-known political personalities. He has summoned the incidences throughout the American history which consciously or unconsciously altered the pattern of how common people used to think and perceive about the purpose and aim of politics. The fact that this book is among his most read books, contrastingly, it has received maximum criticism from various schools of thoughts. Whether the book has received acknowledgement or rejection it is still Hofstadter's widely responded book (Geary, 2007).

The book starts with a preface which reveals that the actual audience for whom he wrote the book was students of varied groups and ages. One can easily find the presented notions and conceptions comprehensive which enable the targeted young audience to follow the flow in the book. Although the used language is quite challenging, it attempts to alert the reader to ready to intake some critical chunks of history. When I read the book, I thought that every student of history should read this book to enhance his exposure to some past imperative events. The book tends to present the readers with a basic understanding of American politics. It sheds light on how it derived and morphed into a product which we have today as 'history'.

Description

In the book, he has mentioned and elaborated about other numerous practical and lasting pieces of works besides discussing American history. The discussion has based on “status politics”. It is the idea that says that people respond minimum from extensive economic self interest in comparison to a desire to safeguard one's social status and controversially described the 19th century ”Populists” influenced by uncertainties of advancements, reminiscence for an agrarian historical background and lack of any noticeable mounts of prejudice. Revisionists have incited some lethal damages in this representation. Like Hofstadter exaggerated the nativism of Populists and had rendered a careless attention to their lawful and well-defined critique in Gilded Age capitalism. Despite the criticism, the book still entertains the quest of Historians associated to Populism and Progressivism as a sincerely initiated piece of work (Greenber, 1998).

The book presents with scrupulous and detailed insight of the country's historical background and unleashes a menacing phase to some respected heroes of America. One has to understand that this book is not meant for children's mind and study. It has displayed its bleak criticism on historical American icons. For instance, common people consider and perceive Abraham Lincoln as the biggest national hero and often call him as “The Greatest Character since Christ”. Regardless of all these opinions Hofstadter has given such a status to John Hay. Nevertheless, he does not deny any of his qualities. For him, he was an ambitious man yet not as ...