Title: Americanon
Rating: 4 Stars
When we think of what is means to be American, many of us have specific ideas in mind. How were these preconceptions formed? Who was behind them?
McHugh takes a look through our history and has identified thirteen books that were critical to the development of the American identity. She makes a pretty convincing case that the massive publishing successes of these books led to their messages somehow permeating our collection American subconscious. Most of the books in her list sold tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of copies. At their peak, they rivaled sales of the Bible.
These books were often used used by immigrants as a blueprint to assimilate into American culture. Even so, more often than not, the books were actually used to negatively differentiate them from the mainstream white Protestant American narrative. Fear of immigration, especially fear of immigration from Catholic countries and the belief that they owed allegiance to the Pope above their adopted country, was at least an indirect reason why several of these books were written.
To the shock of, I’m guessing, no one, most of these books were written by white men. The remaining were written by white women. Native Americans, Black Americans, and others were not give a voice in the forming of our national character.
Instead of discussing each in detail, I’ll just list the most significant books (in my opinion) and how they contributed to our concept of the American ideal.
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
This fostered the myth of the American yeoman farmer. When I mean yeoman farmer, I’m talking about the white, New England variety. Working diligently on his small plot of land, he was beholden to no one.
The almanac included other things than just farm data. Versions of it included the full text of the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and even a listing of all federal employees and their salaries. Even if the farmer was isolated on his own plot of land, he was still part of the country and an active citizen of it with a right to express his own political opinions.
The first version of the almanac was published in 1792. It’s interesting that, in the year 2022, there are still many of us who think that farmers are considered to be the real true Americans, even though they make up less than one percent of all Americans. It shows how pervasive and long lasting the power of an idea can be.
Webster’s Speller and Dictionary
In the early years of our independence, Noah Webster was concerned about the lack of unity among the American people. I’ve written about it before, but the US colonies were formed over a long period of time by religious dissenters, Dutch traders, slave holders from Barbados, Scots-Irish borderlanders, and British aristocrats, among others. Once independence was established, how were all of these desperate people going to be integrated?
Webster took on the challenge by formalizing an American language. He wrote his Speller and his Dictionary. He wanted the American people to move away from Samuel Johnson’s English dictionary. In case you’re wondering why we in the US write honor while the English write honour, well, blame it on Webster. Seriously, one guy just said get that ‘u’ out of here and it stuck. Now that is some serious soft power.
Amazingly enough, it worked. Webster’s Speller and his Dictionary became a common presence in homes across all states of the US. Even if we spoke in different dialects, we spelled consistently. It was crucial to the development of a common American language.
Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography
Included in his autobiography was Franklin’s discussion of the thirteen virtues (eg temperance, silence, frugality, tranquility, chastity, humility). His discussion of how he mastered these virtues served as our first self help book.
In his rags to riches story, you see the American myth of the self made man. Here you see the story of a man who started from nothing and successfully pulled himself up by his bootstraps.
In Franklin’s description of himself, such characteristics as being self-taught, a non-zealous patriot, and a practical scholar are all attributes that we recognize in our American ideal.
The McGuffey Readers
Before the 1830s, education in the US was pretty ad hoc. Usually educated at home, most education consisted of memorization of biblical verses.
Inspired by Webster’s Speller, William McGuffey wanted to change that. As part of a push to create common schools, McGuffey wrote a series of schoolbooks. He succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. Some 130 million copies of his books were sold. Their ubiquity created a nationwide standardization of education and dramatically increased literacy.
McGuffey, similar to Webster, feared immigration and the possibility of Catholic influence. Therefore, like Webster’s Speller and Dictionary, his books were heavily biased towards Protestant values. They served as a guide to American mythology, morals, and social mores (eg habits like hardwork and self-reliance). Probably needless to say, the books were silent on topics such as slavery or treatment of Native Americans.
A Treatise on Domestic Economy / The American Woman’s Home
A Treatise on Domestic Economy was written in 1841 and The American Woman’s Home was written in 1869. Both were written by Catharine Beecher. Her sister, famed author Harriet Beecher Stowe, helped on the latter book.
These books established the woman’s place in American society. They place women at the center of American morality, making them responsible for the preservation of the physical, moral, and economic health of the country. Beecher’s goal was to elevate women’s role and to demonstrate how much expertise was required for them to be successful.
Beecher believed that a woman’s responsibility stopped at the doorstop. She was adamantly opposed to such ideas a women voting.
At the same time, with the rise of the textile industry, women were beginning to make the transition into manufacturing jobs. So, even as Beecher was advocating for this home focused life, the world was already moving on.
It’s even more interesting that Beecher did not live any of what she wrote. She never married. She never had children. She actually lived with Harriet’s family. In fact, she widely toured the country advocating that women should stay at home.
Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home
Written in 1922, a century later most Americans have at least heard of Emily Post. If nothing else, they know that she’s responsible for etiquette. If someone ever worries about causing offence when choosing between a salad fork and a dinner fork, they can thank Emily Post.
After World War I, society was in a state of flux. Remember that this was the time of flappers wearing bobbed hair, wearing thin dresses, smoking cigarettes, drinking outlawed alcohol, and dancing the Charleston. Also, a significant percentage of Americans were immigrants looking to fit in. Finally, the middle class was on the rise, trying to move on up.
In all of this change, there was a need for some consistency. There was a need for a guidebook for how to act. With her book, Emily Post filled this need. In the pages was a vision for how a good American should act.
You’d think that the elite would be horrified when this book was published. After all, it was describing the secrets of their behavior. However, they were able to use it for their own good use. They could pretend to ignore a person’s skin color or their ethnicity and still condemn them for not behaving like a ‘proper’ American.
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Inspired by Franklin’s autobiography, this is the classic self help book. Many of what we consider stereotypical American behaviors are described here. When we think of Americans and their positive attitudes, open honesty, and can-do spirit, the template is coming from this book.
Also embedded is the idea of the American meritocracy. You are responsible for your own destiny. If you’re a failure, then it must be your fault.
In closing, this was an entertaining read of the American cultural canon. I found the personalities behind these books to be pretty fascinating. To think that such a relatively small number of people had such a profound impact upon our culture is pretty amazing to contemplate.
dorkenstein 