American Political Ideas Viewed from the Standpoint of Universal History

Fiske, John, 1842-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.4

Word count: 196K words
Chapters: 20

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.American Political Ideas Viewed from the Standpoint of Universal History by FiskeAuthor: Fiske, John, 1842-1901,Language: English, Class: JK: Political science: Political inst. and pub. Admin.: United States, Release Date: Nov 1, 2003

Editor's review

This is a treatise by the American historian John Fiske examining American political ideas from the standpoint of universal history, an early work in the history of political thought. Its value lies not in operational institutional analysis but in placing American arrangements such as the separation of powers, federal structure, and local self-government within a longer historical arc, helping readers understand how these ideas took shape in the English-speaking political tradition. Fiske's narrative carries the speculative temper of nineteenth-century historical writing, with a formal prose style and extensive argumentation that require some patience today. It suits readers with basic backgrounds in American history and political science as supplementary reading, and offers students of the history of political thought insight into an early scholarly interpretive framework. Read it as a document in intellectual history rather than a contemporary political science primer, and distinguish the author's period judgments from later scholarship. The electronic edition is a public-domain text in English, suitable for close reading against the original or for selected key chapters.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with a foundation in American history or political science who want early interpretive frameworks in intellectual history
Students and teachers of the history of political ideas seeking reference to a nineteenth-century treatise
Advanced readers who wish to understand the separation of powers and federal system from a long-term historical perspective
Those with good English reading ability willing to closely read a public-domain scholarly text

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners without any background in American history seeking an introductory overview
Readers expecting contemporary empirical data or operational institutional analysis
Readers who prefer light popular writing and are unaccustomed to nineteenth-century essayistic prose

Reading tips

Begin with the table of contents and introductory chapters to grasp the author's core thread of comparing political ideas through universal history.
Read alongside a contemporary primer on American political institutions, noting points that differ from today's scholarly conclusions.
Select passages on federal structure and local self-government rather than reading page by page, drawing on them by theme.
Keep brief notes on the author's period assumptions for later comparisons in intellectual history.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable as an introduction to American politics?

Not really. It is an intellectual treatise written by a nineteenth-century historian from the standpoint of universal history, presupposing basic knowledge of American history, with an older prose and argumentative style. Beginners should first read contemporary general textbooks, then turn to it as a supplement in intellectual history.

Can readers with average English proficiency read this book?

The entire book is a public-domain English text with long sentences and dense argumentation. Readers with average English proficiency will find it demanding; it is advisable to begin with shorter, clearly themed chapters, proceed gradually with a dictionary and background materials, or read it alongside relevant Chinese scholarship.

What should readers pay attention to while reading?

Note the author's era and purpose in writing; his judgments carry nineteenth-century historical views and political assumptions. Readers should treat the book's interpretations as a document in intellectual history and compare them with later scholarship, rather than taking them directly as definitive conclusions about American politics today.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Fiske, John, 1842-1901 Author

Fiske, John (1842–1901) was a nineteenth-century American historian and writer of popular philosophy, with 19 works held in this collection. His historical writing focuses mainly on early American history and the founding era, including The Beginnings of New England, The Critical Period of American History, The War of Independence, and the two-volume Old Virginia and Her Neighbours. These works emphasize fluent narrative and the arrangement of historical sources, and are addressed to general readers rather than scholars alone. On philosophy and religion he wrote The Idea of God as Affected by Modern Knowledge and The Destiny of Man, Viewed in the Light of His Origin, attempting to discuss faith and the human condition in terms of the scientific knowledge of his day. He also produced civic-education works such as Civil Government in the United States. His clear, popular style gave his books wide circulation among late nineteenth-century American readers; because public information is limited, biographical details are not elaborated here.