A spin-off from Schama's recent TV series, this is a curiosity in more ways than just its seemingly contradictory title. His intention is to build a history of American exceptionalism - 'the American difference' - through extended anecdotes about some interesting characters. Each is engagingly told in familiar Schama manner - he writes as he talks in short, punchy sentences - but in the final analysis, the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
(Jeremy Miller - bwl 52 July 2009 ) |
