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قراءة كتاب The Twentieth Century American Being a Comparative Study of the Peoples of the Two Great Anglo-Saxon Nations
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The Twentieth Century American Being a Comparative Study of the Peoples of the Two Great Anglo-Saxon Nations
Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Some typographical and punctuation errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. Ellipses match the original.
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The Twentieth
Century American
Being
A Comparative Study of the Peoples of
the Two Great Anglo-Saxon Nations
BY
H. PERRY ROBINSON
AUTHOR OF "MEN BORN EQUAL," "THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF A BLACK BEAR," ETC.
The Chautauqua Press
CHAUTAUQUA, NEW YORK
MCMXI
Copyright, 1908
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
To
Those Readers,
Whether English or American,
who
agree with whatever is said in the
following pages in laudation of
their own Country
This Book
is Inscribed in the hope
that they will be equally ready to accept
whatever they find in praise
of
The Other.
The British Isles and the United States.
A Comparison (see Chapter IV.)
PREFATORY NOTE
There are already many books about America; but the majority of these have been written by Englishmen after so brief an acquaintance with the country that it is doubtful whether they contribute much to English knowledge of the subject.
My reason for adding another volume to the list is the hope of being able to do something to promote a better understanding between the peoples, having as an excuse the fact that I have lived in the United States for nearly twenty years, under conditions which have given rather exceptional opportunities of intimacy with the people of various parts of the country socially, in business, and in politics. Wherever my judgment is wrong it is not from lack of abundant chance to learn the truth.
Except in one instance—very early in the book—I have avoided the use of statistics, in spite of frequent temptation to refer to them to fortify arguments which must without them appear to be merely the expression of an individual opinion.
February, 1908.
CONTENTS
| CHAPTER I | |
| PAGE | |
| An Anglo-American Alliance | 5 |
|
The Avoidance of Entangling Alliances—What the Injunction Meant—What it Cannot Mean To-day—The Interests of the United States, no less than those of England, Demand an Alliance—But Larger Interests than those of the Two Peoples are Involved—American Responsiveness to Ideals—The Greatest Ideal of All, Universal Peace: the Practicability of its Attainment—America's Responsibility—Misconceptions of the British Empire—Germany's Position—American Susceptibilities. |
|
| CHAPTER II | |
| The Difference in Point of View | 35 |
|
The Anglo-Saxon Family Likeness—How Frenchmen and Germans View it—Englishmen, Americans, and "Foreigners"—An Echo of the War of 1812—An Anglo-American Conflict Unthinkable—American Feeling for England—The Venezuelan Incident—The Pilgrims and Some Secret History—Why Americans still Hate England—Great Britain's Nearness to the United States Geographically—Commercially—Historically—England's Foreign Ill-wishers in America. |
|
| CHAPTER III | |
| Two Sides of the American Character | 60 |
|
Europe's Undervaluation of America's Fighting Power—The Americans as Sailors—The Nation's Greatest Asset—Self-reliance of the People—The Making of a Doctor—And of a Surveyor—Society in the Rough—New York and the Country—An Anglo-Saxon Trait—America's Unpreparedness—American Consuls and Diplomats—A Homogeneous People—The Value of a Common Speech—America more Anglo-Saxon than Britain—Mr. Wells and the Future in America. |
|
| CHAPTER IV | |
| Mutual Misunderstandings | 94 |
|
America's Bigness—A New Atlantis—The Effect of Expansion on a People—A Family Estranged—Parsnips—An American Woman in England—An Englishman in America—International Caricatures—Shibboleths: dropped H's and a "twang"—Matthew Arnold's Clothes—The Honourable S—— B——. |
|
| CHAPTER V | |
| The American Attitude towards Women | 111 |
|
The Isolation of the United States—American Ignorance of the World—Sensitiveness to Criticism—Exaggeration of their Own Virtues—The Myth of American Chivalrousness—Whence it Originated—The Climatic Myth—International Marriages—English Manners and American—The View of Womanhood in Youth—Co-education of the Sexes—Conjugal | |