Editor recommendations and comments on American history and culture:

One of the core issues involved in the reform of talent training models in colleges and universities is the construction of a teaching knowledge system that conforms to modern social concepts and reflects the level of scientific and technological progress. The ideal university teaching knowledge system should be contemporary, advanced, academic and relevant, and be embodied in a teaching material system and course content that can demonstrate the above-mentioned advanced concepts and characteristics. The book is divided into three parts, the main contents include the War of Independence and the Civil War, environmental protection and environmental protection movement, Puritan spirit and pragmatism, invention and scientific exploration spirit, George Washington, etc.

American culture American culture, in a sense, is an extension of European culture, because the American language, her demographic composition, and her founding spirit all originated from Europe. On the other hand, American culture is different from Europe because after European immigrants drove away the Indians on the North American continent, they created an amazing and splendid civilization in a barren wilderness.

History The United States is a country of immigrants, and its ancestors come from all over the world. When people immigrate to the United States, they not only move geographically, but they also bring the culture and customs of their home country to their new place of residence. Because of the complexity, people's differences are very prominent; because the differences are very common, people don't pay special attention to unity. Over time, Americans have developed a higher degree of tolerance in their cultural customs, and they are tolerant and acceptable to heterogeneous cultures and different opinions. At this point, acceptable customs are broader in American society than in other countries around the world.

An important part of the historical development of the United States is her history of western development. At that time, American pioneers either trekked on foot or rode horses and carts from east to west, from south to north, and moved wherever there were opportunities. Frequent migration and constant change of residence keep people in a state of "flow", making them more tolerant and accepting of the different phenomena they face. In addition, frequent migration can also help people expand their horizons, become more knowledgeable, sympathize with and understand different customs, and gradually form an open concept that diversity is better than unity.

George Washington (February 22, 1732 - December 14, 1799), commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783 during the American Revolutionary War, became the The first president of the United States (who also became the first head of state in the world with the title "President") won the unanimous support of the entire Electoral College in two consecutive elections and served as president until 1797.

In his early years, Washington served as a colonial officer supporting the British Empire in the French and Indian War. After leading the Continental Army to win American independence in the American Revolutionary War, he rejected offers from some of his colleagues to encourage him to lead a military regime and returned to civilian life at his estate at Mount Vernon.

In 1787, he presided over the Constitutional Convention and formulated the current U.S. Constitution. In 1789, he became the first president of the United States with the unobjectionable support of all the Electoral College. During his two terms in office, he established many policies and traditions that continue to this day. After the end of his two terms, he also voluntarily gave up power and did not continue to serve, thus establishing the tradition in American history that presidents should not serve more than two terms and safeguarding the development of the Republic of China. After that, he returned to civilian life again and retired to Mount Vernon Manor.

Due to his most important role in the American Revolution and founding of the nation, Washington is often called the Founding Father. Scholars rank him with Abraham Lincoln as the greatest president in American history.

Literature American literature American literature (American literature or Literature of the United States) refers to literature produced in the United States (also includes literary works from the colonial period before the founding of the country).

American literature written in English can be considered part of English literature. American literature has a short history. It emerged almost at the same time as American liberal capitalism and was less constrained by feudal aristocratic culture. In the early days of the United States, the population was sparse and there were large areas of undeveloped land, which provided great possibilities for the realization of personal ideals. The American people are rich in the spirit of democracy and freedom, and have strong concepts of individualism and individual liberation, which are prominently reflected in literature. The United States is also a multi-ethnic country. Immigrants continue to pour in, each bringing their own culture, which determines the diversity and complexity of American literary styles. The development process of American literature is a process of constantly absorbing and integrating the literary characteristics of various ethnic groups. American national literature was formed during the period of the Independence Revolution. The struggle produced a great deal of revolutionary poetry and produced some of America's first important essayists and poets. Political independence promotes cultural independence. After the war, American writers published more and more works and gradually got rid of the monopoly of British literature. The young democratic republic made people full of confidence and attracted more people from the old world to the new continent. Such social conditions contributed to the romanticism of literary creation in the first half of the 19th century. Writers absorbed the spirit of European romantic literature and described American history, legends and real life, gradually enriching and enriching the American national content. From the 1920s and 1930s to the eve of the Civil War, it was the heyday of the Romantic Movement. Writers of various styles emerged, and their works had distinctive national characteristics from content to form. Critics call this period the "first boom" of American literature. By the middle of the century, the tone of romantic literature shifted from optimism to doubt. Urgent social contradictions, such as slavery, led some writers to adopt realist creative methods. The Birth of National Literature The Independence Revolution was the background for the birth of American national literature. Long before the war broke out, the American colonial people already had a consciousness of national independence under the influence of European Enlightenment doctrines.

Franklin's (1706-1790) secular maxims are more attractive to the masses than Edwards's righteous teachings. Franklin used a clear and humorous style to spread scientific culture and inspire the spirit of self-reliance. His patriotic enthusiasm and remarks about self-study and entrepreneurship had a profound impact on the American people's outlook on life, career and morality. The period of the Independence Revolution was filled with sharp struggles between resistance and compromise, forcing writers to engage in the battle in simple yet sharp forms such as political commentaries, speeches, and essays. Patrick Henry (1736-1799), the orator who promulgated the famous saying "Give me liberty or give me death", and Thomas Pyne (1737-1809), who encouraged soldiers to fight bravely like war drums, their writing is simple and unpretentious but every word hits the point. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) were fearless warriors who honed their language arts for the needs of battle.

The poetry of that period was also highly political, and a large number of revolutionary ballads came from the folk. Philip Freneau (1752-1832) was a famous revolutionary poet at that time. His creations created an excellent tradition of American poetry.

Early Romantic Literature

At the beginning of the 19th century, some works with the United States as the background and Americans as the protagonists began to appear, beginning to take on the characteristics of the American nation. Owen (1783～1859) devoted himself to discovering the legends and stories of early immigrants in North America. His "Notes of His Experience" (1819～1820) created the tradition of American short stories. In "The Leatherstocking Tales", Cooper (1789-1851) used the demise of the Indian tribe as the background to show how brave and upright immigrants opened up the path to American civilization. The natural scenery described by the poet Bryant (1794 ~ 1878) is completely American. He praised the common local water birds and wild flowers, and through them he praised the harmony between people. The works of these writers are full of optimism and the spirit of the times. The darkly colored Poe reached new levels in poetry, short stories, and theoretical criticism, marking the diversity of national literature and its development in art.

Transcendentalism and Late Romanticism

After the 1830s, New England, the cultural center of the United States on the northeastern coast, became the earliest industrial area. President Jackson's democratic line increased the democratic atmosphere in the country. This had two ideological consequences: on the one hand, Emerson emerged as a group of transcendentalists, and on the other hand, it caused a lot of doubts among some writers. The tone of Romantic literature shifted from optimism to skepticism and negativity. Transcendentalism was an ideological emancipation movement, which first manifested itself as reforms in religious and philosophical thought, and later expanded to the field of literary creation. In order to abandon the "God-centered" thinking of Calvinism, the transcendentalists headed by Emerson (1803-1882) absorbed the ideological materials of Kant's transcendentalism and European romantic theorists, and proposed that people know the truth intuitively. Within a certain scope, man is God. The starting point of this school of thought is humanism, which emphasizes human value, opposes authority, advocates intuition, advocates individual liberation, and breaks the shackles of theology and foreign dogma. It has a great influence on American writers.

In the 1950s, with the emergence of various social problems caused by industrialization, writers were keenly aware of the shortcomings of democracy. Thoreau (1817～1862) focused on the "self-help" spirit of human beings in transcendentalism, advocated returning to nature and maintaining pure humanity, so he conflicted with the bourgeois social order. In Hawthorne and Melville, this contradiction manifests itself in abstract and mysterious forms. Hawthorne (1804-1864) was deeply influenced by Calvinism and wanted to get rid of it, so he turned to the exploration of human condition and destiny, such as "The Scarlet Letter" (1850). Melville (1819-1891), like Hawthorne, attributed the social contradictions he felt to abstract "evil", and the power and incomprehensibility of "evil" cast mystery in works such as "Moby-Dick" (1851) , pessimistic atmosphere.

Abolition Literature

After the 1830s, northern progressives launched an increasingly powerful movement to abolish black slavery. The plight of black people aroused the sympathy of many writers, from Emerson to Longfellow to Whitman, who all wrote anti-slavery poems. The most influential work was Mrs. Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852). Lincoln (1809-1865) called her "the little woman who started a war." The poet Whittier (1807-1892) wrote the largest number of poems protesting against slavery, reflecting the major struggles of the abolitionist movement in the 19th century. Although abolitionist literature was limited to moral condemnation, it promoted the struggle for abolition. In the history of literature, it was also the forerunner of realist creation in the 19th century. The great democratic poet Whitman The democratic spirit of the United States in the 19th century was fully developed in "Leaves of Grass" (1855) by Whitman (1819-1892). With his rich, broad and all-encompassing spirit, he reflected the optimistic and progressive spirit of the broad masses of working people during the democratic revolution. He praises labor, nature, material civilization, and the ideal image of the "individual"; his praises are permeated with extensive love for mankind. With a heroic and rough spirit, the poet despised slavery and all social phenomena that were not in line with the ideals of freedom and democracy. His unrestrained free verse style, like his ideological content, is also an innovation in the history of literature and has had a wide impact.