Main Currents in American Thought (Masterplots, Revised Second Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Vernon Louis Parrington
- Type of Work: History
- Genres: Criticism, Nonfiction, History
- Subjects: History, United States or Americans, Philosophy or philosophers, Authors or writers, Literature, New England, Democracy, Puritans or Puritanism, Realism
Critical Evaluation:
Vernon L. Parrington’s Main Currents in American Thought is generally termed “monumental” for two reasons. First, the detailed tables of contents show an awesome knowledge of literary and political history and the ability to place the major, minor, and insignificant U.S. writers from 1620 to 1900; second, the guide to this imposition of order is a passionate belief in Jeffersonian democracy as the essential philosophy of the United States. Parrington’s work had the revolutionary effect of giving U.S. writers a social dimension never seen in...
[The entire page is 1864 words long]
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