Description
Book SynopsisCultus Americanus applies a philosophical model of political culture as ideology, religion, and myth to a re-consideration of America''s liberal consensus to explain cultural diversity in America. Applying this model to the formative years of American political culture from 1600-1865 demonstrates that American diversity exists within a single, coherent cultural universe, dominated by a liberal ideology that is informed and supported by both a unique American religiosity and a vibrant American mythology. Author Brent Gilchrist engagingly depicts a political culture that is more complex and more cohesive than has been previously maintained that will be of great interest to scholars and students of American politics and history.
Trade ReviewIs there an American political culture? Brent Gilchrist finds an answer —yes!— in the confluence of ideology, religion and myth. Cultus Americanus is a bold, wise, ambitious, elegant reinterpretation of America itself. -- James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation and The Heart of Power
A deft marriage of history and political science, Cultus Americanus is arguably one of the most important post-Hartzian explorations of the American liberal tradition since the late J. David Greenstone's The Lincoln Persuasion (1993). -- Klaus Hansen, Queen's University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Articulating the Inarticulate Premise of Conformity Chapter 2 The Conceptual Matrix of Political Culture Chapter 3 Ideology in America Chapter 4 American Gospel Chapter 5 America's Mythic Undercurrents Chapter 6 A Complex Consensus
