| Description |
1 online resource |
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data file rda |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Note |
Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed July 10, 2018). |
| Contents |
Cover; Half Title; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Acknowledgments; Introduction: The Landscape of Our Collective Dreams; A more perfect union; The landscape of our collective dreams; Barack Obama: American historian; Prologue: A More Perfect Union: Barack Obama's American History; God damn America; America can change; The substance of our common creed; The audacity of hope; WE HOLD THESE truths; What makes us exceptional-what makes us American; The arc of the moral universe; Where the perfection begins; Chapter 1 Our Starting Point as Americans: The American Colonies. |
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Our starting point as AmericansIn a hall that still stands across the street; The spring of 1787; Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots; Who had traveled across an ocean to escape tyranny and persecution; ; ; A city upon a hill; You would have thought I was Cotton Mather; We are no longer just a Christian nation; Community, democracy, and homespun virtues; He lived usefully; The first settlers; America's original sin; A question that divided the colonies; Our starting point as Americans. |
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Chapter 2 The Substance of our Common Creed: The Declaration of Independence and the American RevolutionThe substance of our common creed; Creed; A subject of King George; In the year of America's birth; Let it be told to the future world; From this time forward forever; Enlightenment thinkers like Hobbes and Locke; Its roots in eighteenth-century liberal and republican thought; What makes us exceptional; What makes us American; Farmers and scholars; Farmers and scholars; statesmen and patriots; All men are created equal; An American family; Liberty; Where the perfection begins. |
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The pursuit of happinessChapter 3 The Foundation of our Government: The Constitution and the New Nation; The foundation of our government; Stained by this nation's original sin; Finally made real; WE THE PEOPLE; A "deliberative democracy"; One of the Founders' central insights; Before the ink on the constitutional parchment was dry; A sufficient defense against tyranny; The Supreme Court's role in determining the law; Fundamentalist faith; The freedom of the apostate; Fidelity to our founding principles; The context of an ever-changing world; A "wall of separation" between church and state. |
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Defending organized religionIn God We Trust E Pluribus Unum; Through the early days of the Union; Conservative or liberal, we are all constitutionalists; Chapter 4 A New Birth of Freedom: Slavery and the Civil War; This nation's original sin; A house that was built by slaves; The answer to the slavery question; The hope of slaves; We're the slaves who built the White House; Any final resolution; Government of the people, by the people, for the people; The self-imposed gag rule; A lawmaker was beaten unconscious on the Senate floor. |
| Summary |
"Barack Obama's politics are deeply informed by his profound knowledge and understanding of his country's history. His articles, books, and speeches are replete with references to America's past and how that relates to the present he sees and the future he envisions. Exploring Obama's own words, Steven Sarson examines his interpretation of American history from colonial times to the present, showing how Obama sees American history as beginning with the "common creed" of equality and liberty proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence and the "more perfect union" created by the Constitution. He analyses Obama's understanding of the colonies, revolution, and early nation, slavery and the civil war, segregation and civil rights, economy and society, Native Americans and foreign policy. An epilogue explores how Obama personifies the American dream through the stories of individuals, including his own. A unique and fascinating take on the past and how we interpret it, this book will appeal to all students and scholars of American history, as well as anyone interested in Obama's presidency."--Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Subject |
Obama, Barack -- Political and social views.
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Obama, Barack. (OCoLC)fst00348231
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United States -- History.
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History: theory & methods.
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History: earliest times to present day.
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Politics & government.
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History of the Americas.
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HISTORY -- United States -- State & Local -- General.
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Political and social views. (OCoLC)fst01353986
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United States. (OCoLC)fst01204155
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| Genre/Form |
History. (OCoLC)fst01411628
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| Other Form: |
Print version: Sarson, Steven. Barack Obama. London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2018 9781350032347 1350032344 (OCoLC)987796784 |
| ISBN |
9781350032354 (electronic book) |
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1350032352 (electronic book) |
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9781350032378 (online) |
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