Old Western Frontier -- the Pervasiveness of the Western Frontier Hero in the American Imagination The heroic American national character and the search for an ungoverned American frontier are fused in the America national imagination. America envi Continue Reading...
Joan Crawford's life appeared to mirror the characters that she portrayed on film in several ways. By analyzing the 1945 film Mildred Pierce, in which Crawford plays the titular character, one can see how Mildred's character is designed to reflect Am Continue Reading...
Huckleberry Finn and What Makes an American What Makes Twain's Huckleberry Finn American? "Those canonic ideals -- self-government, equal opportunity, freedom of speech and association, a belief in progress, were first proclaimed during the era of Continue Reading...
Hunt for Red October Few fictional texts are as redolent of the global Cold War as Tom Clancy's novel of east-west submarine intrigue and confrontation, The Hunt for Red October, first published in 1984. For those who have the benefit of hindsight Continue Reading...
... They were accustomed to living in the open, to enduring great fatigue and hardship, and to encountering all kinds of danger." The war against Spain and for the liberation of Cuba was one that would prove the superiority of America and its ideals Continue Reading...
African-Americans and Western Expansion Prior to the 1960s and 1970s, very little was written about black participation in Western expansion from the colonial period to the 19th Century, much less about black and Native American cooperation against Continue Reading...
Crazy Horse and the Western Hero Crazy Horse, believed born sometime in 1838, was a respected member of the Oglala Sioux Native American tribe and is noted for his courage in battle. He was recognized among his own people as a visionary leader commi Continue Reading...
American National Character What characteristics are distinctly American, regardless of class, race, background? What is problematic about making these generalizations and inheriting the culture? What have we inherited exactly? What problems arise Continue Reading...
Baseball and the American Character The three essays on baseball, by Allen Guttman, Murray Ross and Michael Mandelbaum, are all well written and supply unique opinions and ideas about baseball and America that are interesting but quite different. In Continue Reading...
It is the obsession for independence, in Stegner's view, rather than a real need for being mobile that is driving the Americans in general, and the Americans from the West to keep moving at all costs. To illustrate the idea of their inability to esc Continue Reading...
Black Women: Diversity and Inclusion Programs - Are they really assisting? In the last few decades, researchers, policymakers, economic development experts, and analysts of public policy are increasingly concentrating on the aspect of entrepreneursh Continue Reading...
Spade walking down to examine a murder makes use of shadows as well as high black-white contrast in order to convey drama and suspense. This is commonly referred to as the film noir lighting technique because it conveys a sense of mystery and danger Continue Reading...
George Washington: The First American Hero Today, George Washington is an American icon, a symbol of patriotism, strength, and humility. His honesty has become the source of legend, to the point that it is easy to forget that he was a real human bei Continue Reading...
For one thing, if the expedition failed, Lincoln knew that the effort could be justified on scientific grounds. A document was prepared on the various issues to be covered and with the questions to be asked. Jefferson delivered the plan to Congress Continue Reading...
No polished person could have done it better. What was the matter? I looked at him and suddenly it came to me. If he had tried familiarity with me the first two minutes of our acquaintance, I should have resented it; by what right, then, had I tried Continue Reading...
Unlike many of his peers, Houston did not support long-term independence for Texas, even though he did serve as an intermittent President of the Republic. Instead, he urged for annexation by the United States, and once it was a part of the Union, h Continue Reading...
According to Mctiernan (1997), "James Fenimore Cooper's the Spy is interesting precisely because no genre had yet hardened around spying when he wrote it. Cooper relies instead on the conventions of other genres -- primarily, the domestic romance an Continue Reading...
Western and Hollywood: The Art of Show Business The Western helped spawn the American myth -- the legend of the frontier spirit, where civilization met the road and the individual was put to the test: either he would be a man of honor, or a crimina Continue Reading...
.." And with that that party "controls the spoils of office" by appointing people friendly to the president's election to positions of influence and by keeping the party's masses happy by giving them what they asked for. In defining HOW and WHY, and Continue Reading...
Elliot also allowed her students to learn their lessons first-hand, on their own. Her students drew their own conclusions from the exercise rather than having their teacher tell them what they were supposed to gain from it. For example, Elliot's st Continue Reading...
Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States and a controversial historical figure. He owned slaves, as did many American men in his time, and he helped banish the Native Americans from their homelands. In some ways, these actions ma Continue Reading...
This reveals the more liberated ideals of the west and of the pioneer culture. First, Alexandra envisions herself "being lifted and carried lightly by some one very strong. He was with her a long while this time, and carried her very far, and in his Continue Reading...
Leadership In his Pulitzer Prize winning biography, His Excellency George Washington, Joseph J. Ellis presents a balanced and comprehensive portrait on the nation's first president that steers a course between hero-worship and debunking. He based hi Continue Reading...
Larger Than Life - Jenny Lyn Bader At many times throughout the recorded history of man there has been a refocus of the academic, political and popular views of just what is meant by "how things are," or in some cases, how things were. The sort of m Continue Reading...
The Injustice of the Indian Removal Act 1830 Introduction The Indian Removal Act signed by Andrew Jackson in 1830 was meant to establish peace in the nation and to give the Native Americans their own territory where they could practice their own acti Continue Reading...
Alamo In Sleuthing the Alamo, James Crisp does not think that Sam Houston gave the racist "half Indian Mexicans" speech. This is contrary to the fact that the speech has been widely attributed to Sam Houston. "The words of the speech were harsh," as Continue Reading...
Andrew Jackson's Presidency: A View to Defining the Good and Bad Andrew Jackson is lauded by many as one of the greatest generals and presidents in United States history, and is vilified as one of the most damaging of all time. The fact is that he h Continue Reading...
In 1837, Lincoln took highly controversial position that foreshadowed his future political path. He joined with five other legislators out of eighty-three to oppose a resolution condemning abolitionists. In 1838, he responded to the death of the Il Continue Reading...
She believes that the leadership, order, and willingness to follow someone else that make military campaigns successful are also what make political campaigns successful, though she acknowledges that, at least for the individuals involved, the direc Continue Reading...
Nathaniel Bacon Bacon's Rebellion: An Examination of a Primary Source The beginnings of our great country were not without bloodshed or sacrifice. Many a great hero fought in the War for Independence, for instance, and this is known to all, but th Continue Reading...
Racial Capitalism and the Indian Removal ActIntroductionAndrew Jacksons Second Annual Message was delivered in 1830 and served as justification, in his eyes, for the removal of the Indians from white settlements in the South.[footnoteRef:2] The idea Continue Reading...
Grant supporter, George Curtis, editor of Harper's Weekly, once wrote to a friend, "I think the warmest friends of Grant feel that he has failed terribly as President, but not from want of honesty or desire, but from want of tact and great ignorance Continue Reading...
Kennedy and the Civil Rights Movement John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or JFK, served the President of the United States for less than a single full term in the early 1960s after serving in Congress for several terms before this. He was elected in 1960 and Continue Reading...
He also related how his small group of friends played tricks with their unwitting neighbors. His friends would set fire on alcohol, rekindled candles blown out, imitate lightning flashes or by touching or kissing and make an artificial spider move ( Continue Reading...
Book Review: Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves and the Making of the American Revolution in Virginia Author’s Thesis Holton’s (1999) book Forced Founders: Indians, Debtors, Slaves, and the Making of the American Revolution in Virg Continue Reading...
It did not help matters that Johnson was photographed being sworn into office aboard the plane bringing the body of Kennedy back to Washington, D.C., with Kennedy's widow, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who was still wearing the suit stained wit Continue Reading...
This developed later into selling feeder stock to U.S. where the costs of feed were less. In terms of agriculture, Canada does not have a suitable climate to grow corn, and during the 1890s there was the change in cultivation through the use of a ne Continue Reading...
George Washington: Man of Honor or Man of Shame? When most people think of George Washington they imagine a noble man of almost mythical proportions. Indeed, to many of Washington's contemporaries, as well, the former President of the United States Continue Reading...
The psychological strength of Alexandra is clearly visible when her dying father entrusts her with the family's land. According to father, she is supposed to be take care of the family's estates when he dies. The father seems to have developed more Continue Reading...
This meant that men held positions of power and authority in all the public spheres including economics/business, politics/the law, and the bearing of arms. Men also possessed social status that women did not have, enabling the perpetuation of a pat Continue Reading...
