Twitter at its best encapsulates complex thoughts and ideas into 280-character missives. Similarly The Ideas That Made America by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen analyzes nearly three centuries of American intellectual thought in a breezy 180 pages.
Ratner-Rosenhagen, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, follows the many struggles endured in the quest for a uniquely American identity, illustrating the uncomfortable tensions experienced along the way.
One theme, Ratner-Rosenhagen explains, is omnipresent throughout American intellectual history: “The struggle for moral identification in America, as Americans, that bridges the gulfs of its diversity while also providing a view of itself in the wider world.”
Starting with the first American settlers, Ratner-Rosenhagen portrays the vexing conflict between entrenched European ideas and fresh insights gained from the New World. The focus then shifts to the American Revolution where Thomas Paine breathed life into a unique vision: a nation founded on ideas.
The ensuing intellectual period intertwined reason, individualism, and the ideals of the European Enlightenment with the religious groundwork the new country was founded on. As the 19th century wore on, Transcendentalism, an era that struggled to reconcile religious traditions with the secular, took root. The age of Darwin’s “survival of the fittest,” pragmatism, and empirical testing quickly followed.
Though it would be easy to continue down this chronological path, Ratner-Rosenhagen takes time to explore the “crossings” between the American and European, and among American intellectuals. She seamlessly floats through eras of thought, touching on major discoveries and works of literary significance.
Moving through the last century, she examines the “American intellectual wasteland” left after World War I, the Harlem Renaissance, and the efforts of artists and writers to uplift the American people during the Great Depression.
As America became an outspoken advocate for democracy after World War II, injustices within the country left many confused about the nation’s identity. She then explains how, in the following years, the struggle to reconcile modern thought with tradition and conservatism with liberalism would lay the groundwork for intense individualism and future cultural wars.
Ratner-Rosenhagen chooses to forgo analysis on current American thought, an evaluation that would inevitably turn political. Instead, she asks probing questions about globalization, nationalism, and domestic struggles, leaving the answers to the reader. Resisting the temptation to opine on the age of Trump is admirable.
Analyzing nearly three centuries of American thought in 180 pages is as impressive as it is refreshing. In a world where attention spans are short and discourse is often limited to 280 characters, she recognizes the need for brevity and delivers.
