Harold E. Stearns’ Critique of American Culture in the Book, Civilization in the United States :: American America History

Harold E. Stearns Critique of Ameri sight Culture in the Book, nicety in the fall in StatesHarold E. Stearns and his colleagues set out on a rush to enlighten and inform the American society of the 1920s in their reserve entitled Civilization in the unite States. Thirty-three authors with the aid of an editor, Stearns, sort of produced a highly controversial and inadequate account of certain aspects of animateness in American society. According to critic Arthur Schlesinger the writers of Civilization in the United States fell short of their goal of producing a critical depiction of American society and instead wrote supercilious reflections (167). There are three primary(prenominal) themes presented in each essay included in Civilization. They are as follows Americans are hypocritical, American civilization is not Anglo-Saxon nor nationalistic, and finally American social life lacks emotion. Stearns chose his writers very carefully. He wanted each of them to be blunt and str aight to the point in their essays, especially when writing on these three themes. In his preface, Stearns himself states If these main contentions seem severe or pessimistic, the serve must be we do not write to please we reach out only to understand and to state as clearly as we can (vii). It is obvious that Harold Stearns wanted to voice his ideas and those of his counterparts in an open, bold fashion and that is why each essay touches on the main themes mentioned above. Critic Arthur Schlesinger, however mentions in his critique of Civilization that if there are any common themes in these essays at all, that they certainly are not the ones Harold Stearns mentions. Rather, Schlesinger hints that the theme is that Americans are prescribed but bewildered children in a world they cannot understand which is stark naked and constantly changing (168). He feels that overall, each author wrote his or her testify mental picture and didnt follow a common theme in the authentic sense of the word. It is apparent to me that the critic has a valid point and his opinion coincides with my own opinion. Stearns may have had a common theme in mind when he organized the writing of Civilization, but it seems as if the authors went a bit off track. Some of the topics discussed in Civilization in the United States were The Intellectual Life, The City, Economic Opinion, History, Business, Engineering, Politics, Journalism, and Philosophy to name a few. As critic Arthur Schlesinger notes in his review of the book, the topics and authors included in this account of