The Americans

Münsterberg, Hugo, 1863-1916Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 1.4M words
Chapters: 144

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.The Americans by Hugo MünsterbergAuthor: Münsterberg, Hugo, 1863-1916,Language: English, Class: E151: History: America: United States, Release Date: Jan 15, 2018

Editor's review

The Americans is psychologist Hugo Münsterberg's study of American society and national character, belonging to the early twentieth-century tradition of cross-cultural commentary in which European scholars examined the United States. Drawing on his training in psychology, the author discusses the American pace of work, public life, values, and educational ideas, offering both keen generalizations and the limitations and outsider perspective of his era. Its value lies in the historical snapshot it provides: readers see how European intellectuals understood America a century ago, and are prompted to reflect on today's debates about efficiency, the individual, and society. Read it with a critical eye, placing the author's judgments in their historical context and distinguishing observation from bias. Suitable for readers interested in cultural comparison, social psychology, or American studies, as a primary source of commentary rather than a definitive account. The electronic edition is convenient for keyword searches and well suited to thematic skimming and excerpting.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in American culture and national character
Students of social psychology or cultural comparison
Historians studying early twentieth-century mutual perceptions between Europe and America
Readers who enjoy cross-cultural observational essays and can discern the biases of the era

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking contemporary data and the latest research on American society
Readers expecting systematic sociological theory or rigorous quantitative analysis
Readers who want only light travel writing and prefer to avoid critical commentary

Reading tips

Start with the table of contents to identify topics of interest, such as work, education, or public life, then skim by theme.
As you read, note the author's judgments and their grounds, marking which reflect the biases of the era.
Read alongside an introductory history of American society to place the commentary in historical context.
After finishing, write a brief counter-observation comparing what has and has not changed in the image of America over the past century.

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

What is the background of this book?

The author is the German-American psychologist Hugo Münsterberg, who taught in the United States. The book is a commentary on America by a European scholar of the early twentieth century, written from a cross-cultural comparative perspective and inevitably marked by an outsider's distance and the limitations of its time. It is best read as historical commentary rather than as a definitive account of contemporary society.

Are its views outdated?

The book's specific judgments bear clear marks of their era and cannot be applied directly to contemporary America. Yet its discussions of efficiency, public life, and individual values still offer points of reference. Readers should distinguish factual observation from value judgment and assess the author's views in the context of the early twentieth century.

Is it suitable as an introduction to American studies?

It is better suited as supplementary primary commentary than as an introductory textbook. Beginners might first read an introduction to American history or a social overview, then return to this book to appreciate an outside observer's perspective and limitations; for classroom discussion, it should be read alongside other materials.

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About the author

Münsterberg, Hugo, 1863-1916 Author

Hugo Münsterberg (1863–1916) was a German-born psychologist who taught at Harvard University and was an important early figure in experimental and industrial psychology. Five of his works are included here, spanning a considerable range of subjects. The Photoplay: A Psychological Study examines the perception and aesthetic mechanisms of film, then a new medium, from a psychological perspective, and is regarded as an important early document in film theory. Psychology and Industrial Efficiency explores the relationship between working conditions, personnel selection and efficiency, an early attempt to bring applied psychology into the workplace. Psychotherapy deals with the methods and principles of psychological treatment. The Americans records his observations on American society and culture, while Psychology and Social Sanity addresses practical questions in psychology and social life for a general readership. His writing combines scholarship with readability, and he was skilled at bringing psychological ideas to bear on everyday life and cultural phenomena. Public information is limited, so further biographical details are omitted here.