O Strange New World: American Culture : The Formative Years

by Howard Mumford Jones

London printing Hardcover with Dustjacket.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Classics, American History

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

Reviews

[Terragyrl3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jones won a deserved Pulitzer for this book, in which he offers an in-depth analysis of cultural expression in the New World. His thesis is that the New World was founded firmly in Renaissance thought. He examines the puzzle that flowery ideals (as in Burke’s Rights of Man) are hopelessly entangled with the realities of managing people (Machiavelli’s The Prince). Jones’ best offering is a fascinating analysis of why the Spanish had the early funding and greater momentum in New World Exploration, only to have the British win the long game. However, the author alternates between interesting ideas and less interesting lists of significant cultural works. The habits of Old Academia will frustrate some readers (excerpts running for a full page, quotes from foreign authors left untranslated and unsummarized). I feel that we shouldn’t punish an author for being a venerable wonk of his times. However, I’m giving it three stars for one reason: rather than craft an elegant argument, the author prefers to kill doubt with an unworkable accretion of examples. This is a great read for academics who study academia. No doubt his ideas were fodder for many masters and PhD projects throughout the 1960s and 1970s.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pulitzer Non-Fiction 1965 - In "O Strange New World" Howard Mumford Jones describes how the US got to where it was from a cultural perspective drawing on it's foundation as a place where the Old World Empires set out to compete for it's resources and conquer its native people, to the Revolutionary thinkers and their regard for ancient Roman and Greek government to the Western Expansion of the 1800s. It's very thorough.
The book at times slogs through as he is very knowledgeable and thorough (there are 50 pages of footnotes) but gets really caught up in minutia. My other big issue with this book is that Jones assumes the reader has a tremendous wealth of knowledge (he's an academic writing for academics I suppose). There are passages and phrases in several foreign languages that are used as examples of thoughts ans feelings but never translated for the reader (even in footnotes).

I gave it three stars for its thoroughness and understanding of American Culture of 1965 but I'd say the readability to the average person is a bit tough.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very boring