Q & A #3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture III: American Individualism

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LECTURE 3 - AMERICAN INDIVIDUALISM:

Is it really better to be suckled by wolves than to inherit a farm? This lecture explores the evolution of the American conception of the individual and why it has become so dominant within American culture. Devoid of a deep history and often in strange surroundings with strange people, many Americans have, for generations, felt thrust out on their own. What for most societies was considered a severe punishment - banishment - became, in America, a common and perhaps necessary mode of life. Over time, a virtue was created from this necessity and the peculiar form of American individualism became cemented as a core element of American values. 

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Q & A #2 - NO HISTORY FOR YOU!

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture II: No History for You!

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LECTURE 2: NO HISTORY FOR YOU!

Are Americans blatantly hypocritical or just actively forgetful? In my second lecture I explore the bizarre and necessary historical amnesia that besets American culture. For the first 200 years of American settlement, the Native American culture was forcibly erased, then actively ignored once the ‘Natives’ problem had been “solved”. Also, the invisibility of the African American presence in much of the US, which represented 40-50% of the population in some states, created a further barrier to American history. Finally, the internal patterns of settlement and mass migration cemented a near total disregard for framing our cultural understanding in any historical sensibility.

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Q & A #1 - WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

Wes and Jeremy take questions from listeners on Lecture I: "What is an American?" Apologies for the audio quality on this one—it improves as the series moves along.

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LECTURE 1: WHAT IS AN AMERICAN?

Did you ever wonder how Americans came to be like this? In my introductory lecture I explore the uniquely powerful role America plays in the contemporary world and the history that underlies its global dominance. 250 years ago, the United states had a tiny population, was loosely organized and beset by internal conflicts. A rapid and massive demographic and geographic expansion brought this relative backwater onto the world stage and then to global dominance. The cultural transformations that proceeded with this transformation created a society that is, for good or ill, extremely influential and uniquely American.

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