My first significant exposure to history of USA was the book, The Epic of America by James Truslow Adams

Last updated on 9th Dec. 2019

I think my first significant exposure to the history of the USA, beyond the limited info. in my school history books in Bombay, India, was when I read James Truslow Adams book, "The Epic of America", https://books.google.co.in/books?id=VG5QDwAAQBAJ&dq=isbn:1931541337, when I perhaps was studying in college in late 1970s and early 1980s in Bombay/Mumbai. An uncle of mine who was a marine engineer had a copy of the book and that's how I got my hands on it.

I recall that I was very impressed with it but don't recall (now in 2019) the details of the book that impressed me! Ha! Ha! Such is life. The impression I have is that the pioneer spirit of settlers in America was well brought out in the book, and that captivated me - but I repeat that I don't recall any details. For a guy like me then, living in rather crowded Bombay using usually crowded public transport, I am sure the story of American pioneers settling down in and taming vast open lands would have been very attractive. I don't think I understood then how Native Americans ("Indians") had grievously suffered in this process.

The book PDF (scanned version it seems) is available on archive.org: https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.262385/page/n2. The book was published in 1931. [The pdf cannot be searched for text in it. For text searches, here's the text version of it: https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.262385/2015.262385.The-Epic_djvu.txt.]

I quickly browsed through some parts of the PDF. Right in the preface, Adams writes: "There is no lack of excellent one-volume narrative histories of the United States, in which the political, military, diplomatic, social, and economic strands have been skillfully interwoven. The author has had no wish to work in that somewhat crowded field in writing the volume now offered. He has desired rather to paint a picture, with broad strokes of the brush, of the variegated past which has made our national story, and at the same time to try to discover for himself and others how the ordinary American, under which category most of us come, has become what he is to-day in outlook, character, and opinion."

So he never intended it to be a history of the USA. But he did paint with broad strokes, the variegated past of the USA, and how it influenced American outlook and attitude.

I was surprised to note that the book is not a noted one nowadays - it does not even have a wikipedia page! The author has a wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Truslow_Adams. His Epic of America book is mentioned in the context of the phrase "American Dream", but his book does not seem to be noted for its broad-brush history telling!

In the 1920s to 1940s, the book seems to have been well known. The wiki page states, "His Epic of America was an international bestseller, and was included in Life Magazine's list of the 100 outstanding books of 1924–1944." [Ref:  Canby, Henry Seidel. "The 100 Outstanding Books of 1924–1944". Life, 14 August 1944. Chosen in collaboration with the magazine's editors.]
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Given below are some of my comments (slightly edited) from my Facebook post, https://www.facebook.com/ravi.s.iyer.7/posts/2680388972177663, associated with this blog post:

Had you come across the book, "The Epic of America" earlier (to my post mentioning it)? I ask because I get the impression that even among Americans of my generation, not many have heard of it/known of it.
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I thought you would be interested to note that Terry Reis Kennedy had written over email to me in response to the post about Johnson County War in Wyoming and the movie Shane, 'Hollywood has always been the way most US citizens learned anything at all about "history of the country."'

And I responded, "Ha! Ha! That's a terrific line, Terry. I think it may be similar in India but with Indian films instead of Hollywood."

I think movies play an important role in influencing and teaching huge number of people, as far more people watch movies than read books on a regular basis.
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Your words (corrected Americzn to American, which clearly is what you intended), "As migrants we could relate to so much of what the different pioneering communities endured in developing the American Dream from the time of the Pilgrim Fathers." are very interesting.

While I do not recall noting the "American Dream" phrase and associated passages in the book, Epic of America, in my reading of it in late 1970s/early 1980s, as I think about it, I feel that it surely would have made an impression on me due to the promise of that dream for a better and freer life for those who are struggling financially and leading a materially tough life (like me at the time of my reading it as I was still in college and my family was going through a tough financial period) but feel that they can do much better (materially) if they get a decent chance.

I have given below an extract from the book related to "American Dream" from the preface of the book itself. It appears 50 times in the book (search on text version of book)!

--- start extract ---
He (the author) has endeavored in particular to trace the beginnings at their several points of entry of such American concepts as “bigger and better,” of our attitude toward business, of many characteristics which are generally considered as being “typically American,” and, in especial, of that American dream of a better, richer, and happier life for all our citizens of every rank which is the greatest contribution we have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the world. That dream or hope has been present from the start. Ever since we became an independent nation, each generation has seen an uprising of the ordinary Americans to save that dream from the forces which appeared to be overwhelming and dispelling it. Possibly the greatest of these struggles lies just ahead of us at this present time — not a struggle of revolutionists against established order, but of the ordinary man to hold fast to those rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” which were vouchsafed to us in the past in vision and on parchment.
--- end extract ---

Here are the contents of the introduction section of the American Dream wiki page, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Dream :

The American Dream is a national ethos of the United States, the set of ideals (democracy, rights, liberty, opportunity and equality) in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and success, as well as an upward social mobility for the family and children, achieved through hard work in a society with few barriers. In the definition of the American Dream by James Truslow Adams in 1931, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement" regardless of social class or circumstances of birth.[1]

The American Dream is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims that "all men are created equal" with the right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."[2] Also, the U.S. Constitution promotes similar freedom, in the Preamble: to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity".

[Wiki Refs:]
1. Library of Congress. American Memory. "What is the American Dream?", lesson plan.
2. Kamp, David (April 2009). "Rethinking the American Dream". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on May 30, 2009. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
--- end wiki extract ---

Ravi: As I reflect on the above, I think there is lot of merit in the words of James Truslow Adams mentioned earlier that the American Dream is "the greatest contribution we (Americans) have as yet made to the thought and welfare of the world". I have certainly been inspired by these aspects of American life that I saw directly during my stints in the USA, and indirectly through my many interactions with Americans while being based in India or in Europe, USA government leadership in world affairs in post World War 2 period (which has been the period of my lifetime) and the industries & services created largely by American leadership like the software industry (where I earned my livelihood), Hollywood movie industry and the awesome technological innovation of the Internet (which is what we are using to communicate now on Facebook).

[I thank the author & publisher of "The Epic of America" and Wikipedia, and have presumed that they will not have any objections to me sharing the above extract(s) from their website on this post which is freely viewable by all, and does not have any financial profit motive whatsoever.]
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