The Idea of American Exceptionalism: A Cultural and Social History

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This project addresses current debates over American Exceptionalism (United States historical development considered outside the normal path of history), treating the topic not as a set of substantive empirical propositions to be challenged, but as the cultural and social history of an idea. It aims to show how Exceptionalism evolved, how a cluster of sub-concepts mutually reinforced it and how its attractiveness and its religious, economic and political content changed over time. This approach analyses the historical conditions promoting (and challenging) Exceptionalism as belief and national identity. It bypasses difficult dichotomies between myth and reality and rancorous political arguments for and against the concept.