The Historians and the Edenic Myth: A Critique

Abstract

I Since its birth in the late 1940's, the American Studies movement has firmly established itself as an interdisciplinary academic enterprise and its scholarly adherents have written books and articles on a wide range of important subjects. Spread over departments of history, English, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, and the fine arts, it boasts of a number of journals in the United States and in several foreign countries. Its annual monographic output covers everything from philosophy to the nation's commonplace artifacts. Few if any aspects of American cul- tural life have escaped its notice: national character, folklore, dreams, aspirations, literature, music, and ideas ~ all have been described, cate- gorized, and analyzed.1