In the Midst of Perpetual Fetes: The Making of American Nationalism, 1776-1820

Rating:
Summary: Typical academic book-lacks clarity
Review: While the author obviously spent (too much?) time in the archives, when it came to sitting down and writing the book he could not resist engaging in what is now literally an all-too-common academic exercise: making what should have been a straightforward cultural tale into a jargon-laden, convoluted tome that lacks clarity. Instead of tortured sentence construction and the employment of a host of academic buzzwords, Waldstreicher should have just said what he had to say! He didn't (not uncommon in his profession) and thus this book, consequently inaccessible, is anything but lucid.