Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1996. [Vol. 3.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 23)

BOOK REVIEWS - András Tarnóc: Charles Sellers, Neill McMillen and Henry May: Az Egyesült Államok története. Budapest: Maecenas Kiadó, 1995. 434 pp

the pre-revolutionary period. James Madison, whose careful research of the political heritage of the Western and Eastern Hemisphere culminated in his leading role at the Constitutional Convention, is the embodiment of America's intellectual independence. Alexander Hamilton's aggressive economic and John Marshall's consistent judicial nationalism represent America at the threshold of nationhood. Lincoln's recognition of the "house divided" not only symbolizes the nation tormented by the dilemma of slavery, but functions as the personification of the national will during the turbulence of the Civil War. Theodore Roosevelt is the visionary president whose conviction and aggressive belief in the New Manifest Destiny laid the foundation of the American Empire. In the twentieth century Woodrow Wilson's missionary zeal and Franklin Delano Roosevelfs healing power enhanced the American ideal. Following the achievement of superpower status in the post 1945 era, John F. Kennedy's reach for the New Frontier personified the confident American whose bearings were shaken during the following decades and were not regained until Ronald Reagan's optimism-driven presidency. Although this approach is susceptible to the trap of the now virtually discredited "top to bottom view" of history, the fact is that no other nation expects its leader to function as opinion maker and barometer of the contemporary social climate to an extent demonstrated by American history. As Skotheim argues no historian operates in a vacuum as his or her work is influenced by the "climate of opinion: the fundamental assumptions and attitudes shared by significant elements of the population at a given time." Sellers, McMillen, and May's work seems to have been unaffected by the notion of multiculturalism, the dominant cultural trend of the 1990's promoting equal recognition for all cultures comprising America's ethnic tapestry. Consequently, the achievements of non-white Americans are relegated to a side-show in this Anglo history dominated narrative. The book, originally written for the lay or undergraduate public in the U.S., provides an extended outline of American history without 203