About this title: Published in 1782, this collection of stories includes a vivid portrait of the American scene, from New England seafaring life to Southern plantation culture. The second collection of stories explores some of the unpleasant truths about America's birth pangs.
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Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics, New York, NY, USA
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780140390063ISBN:0140390065
Description: GOOD. 6 pages have pale blue highlighting (extensive); remaining pages are unmarked with only an occasional creased corner and mild age discoloration. Cover has rub wear, creases, and several bookstore USED labels; no tears. No spine creases or previous owner names. 122608 (yjs3) read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780140390063ISBN:0140390065
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Viking Pr
Date Published: 1981-12-01
ISBN-13:9780140390063ISBN:0140390065
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780140390063. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780140390063ISBN:0140390065
Description: Acceptable. -Acceptable: A readable copy. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (the dust cover may be missing). Pages can include considerable notes--in pen or highlighter--but the notes cannot obscure the text. About Austin eBooks Austin eBooks is committed to providing each customer with the highest standard of customer service! We add inventory to our store daily, and guarantee order processing and shipment within 2 business days. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780140390063ISBN:0140390065
Description: Very Good- 0140390065. Usual used bookstore stickers. Wear to cover; markings throughout text. Still a nice reading copy, clean and tightly bound. US History. Pasadena's finest independent new and used bookstore.; Penguin Classics; 0.7 x 7.7 x 5 Inches; 512 pages. read more
Description: Like New. Book appears unread, but may have a publisher's mark or minor shelf wear. We are the Twin Cities' largest independent book store. read more
"I gave this book a 2 on the like-ability scale, though it would be higher on an importance scale. Written in 1782, George Washington said this series of letters was "too flattering" to be true (Norton intro). But, while Crevecoeur does spend a significant amount of time praising America as welcoming, hard-working, hearty place where any European would find it difficult to leave, he also includes scathing looks at slavery and the ignorance of people living in rural settings (particularly in the woods). Overall, this work offers great insight into the time in which it was written. I think that the main idea I'll take away from it is the message of America to newcomers according to the author: "Go thou and work and till; thou shalt prosper, provided thou be just, grateful, and industrious.""
"This is quite possibly the most boring book I have ever read. That's an extreme statement for me. Crevecoeur's history is erratic, having been a Frenchman who emigrated to the United States, pretended to be an Englishman, and was then kicked out of New England for being sympathetic to the Crown before the Revolution even really began. He was taught by the Jesuits, so he was obviously well educated, and one can easily see that in the language, vocabulary, themes and structure of the letters. This would not be so problematic (and more interesting) if not for his intent to emulate the voice, feelings and rationale of a humble American farmer with no formal education. In this case, the letters from the farmer to his English aristocratic friend are clearly contrived, filled with a nauseating degree of false modesty, poor political analogies and, at some points, just ridiculousness; exempli gratia, the farmer loves and appreciates American creatures so much, that he places a live hornets nest in his parlor and leaves the window open for them to come and go as they please. Sometimes they pick the flies off his children's eyelids to return the favor. This makes him sound absolutely absurd and destroys any reliability or sincerity of voice he may have accidentally elicited previously. Crevecoeur tries to create a character who embodies all that is,from his scarcely American perspective, American; industriousness, religious tolerance, a skepticism and disdain for luxury and an affinity for nature (both with a capital and lower case N) and manual hard labor. He still fails in creating an authentic and therefore convincing voice even without the reader being aware of his ambiguous past.It all just seems so fake. This is a shame, as the basic arguments within the letters, particularly in letters like (or maybe just that one only) "What is an American?" are rather encouraging and idealistic (social/political egalitarianism, concern for the commonwealth), albeit garrulous. It is a pity that a Frenchman (one much, much less talented and intelligent than de Tocqueville, too, who probably could have killed this if he wanted to) gained notoriety in writing about Republican ideals and democracy and what it means to be an early American than any actual Americans for quite a while (all technical relevant dates aside). This work is two things that good literature should not be, especially not together: spurious and predictable.
D.H. Lawrence, I sincerely love you, but Crevecoeur is not the real emotional prototype of anything, least not anything American."
"The genius of this book is, I think, the way it starts off with America as Utopia and slowly slides down the slope, bringing us to the "Negro" in a cage scene, which undermines absolutely everything that came before it. The glimpses of such ironies as the opium habits of Nantucket housewives and claims of Providence giving the Europeans land that Natives had inhabited for so long must serve to poke the conscience of anyone who would proclaim that America ever was, is at present or ever will be "perfect" the way it is. Even with our first African American President."
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