People of Plenty
Economic Abundance and the American Character
University of Chicago Press, 1954
Cloth: 978-0-226-67632-6 | Paper: 978-0-226-67633-3 | Electronic: 978-0-226-67631-9
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226676319.001.0001
Cloth: 978-0-226-67632-6 | Paper: 978-0-226-67633-3 | Electronic: 978-0-226-67631-9
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226676319.001.0001
AVAILABLE FROM
University of Chicago Press (paper, ebook)Brytewave (CafeScribe-Follett Higher Ed)
DeGruyter Multi-User Ebook Program
ebrary
EBSCO eBooks (formerly NetLibrary)
Kno
ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYREVIEWSTABLE OF CONTENTS
ABOUT THIS BOOK
The classic analysis of American character and the importance of abundance--a book Ezra Klein calls “brilliant.”
America has long been famous as a land of plenty, but we seldom realize how much the American people are a people of plenty—a people whose distinctive character has been shaped by economic abundance. In this important book, David M. Potter breaks new ground both in the study of this phenomenon and in his approach to the question of national character. He brings a fresh historical perspective to bear on the vital work done in this field by anthropologists, social psychologists, and psychoanalysts.
America has long been famous as a land of plenty, but we seldom realize how much the American people are a people of plenty—a people whose distinctive character has been shaped by economic abundance. In this important book, David M. Potter breaks new ground both in the study of this phenomenon and in his approach to the question of national character. He brings a fresh historical perspective to bear on the vital work done in this field by anthropologists, social psychologists, and psychoanalysts.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
David M. Potter (1910-1971) was a professor of history at Yale University and, at the time of his death, Coe Professor of American History at Stanford University.
REVIEWS
"The rejection of hindsight, with the insistence on trying to see events from the point of view of the participants, was a governing theme with Potter. . . . This sounds like a truism. Watching him apply it however, is a revelation."
— Newsweek"The best short book on national character I have seen . . . broadly based, closely reasoned, and lucidly written."
— Yale Review"Brilliant."
— Ezra Klein, AbundanceTABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover
PART I. THE STUDY OF NATIONAL CHARACTER
I. The Historians and National Character
II. The Behavioral Scientists and National Character
PART II. ABUNDANCE AND THE SHAPING OF AMERICAN CHARACTER
III. The Nature of American Abundance
IV. Abundance, Mobility, and Status
V. Democracy and Abundance
VI. Abundance and the Mission of America
VII. Abundance and the Frontier Hypothesis
VIII. The Institution of Abundance: Advertising
IX. Abundance and the Formation of Character
Index