Much of how Americans have always understood their history, culture, and identity depends on positioning Europe as the 'other,' as that 'old world' against which they define themselves.
Interpretation
Americans often define their identity in contrast to European culture and history.
This quote by Linda Colley highlights the idea that American identity has been shaped by a sense of separation from Europe, which is viewed as the 'old world.' This positioning allows Americans to craft a unique sense of self and culture that distinguishes them from their European roots, creating a narrative that emphasizes innovation and a break from tradition.
In practice
In a history lecture discussing American exceptionalism.
Look at how the British covered India with railroads, and it is easy to view them as modernisers. Look, however, at the abysmal levels of mass illiteracy in the subcontinent they left behind in 1947, and they appear rather differently.
Empire in the past was always a far harsher and much more accident-prone business than conventional history books imply. And the costs of these overseas invasions were borne not just by those on the receiving end but - frequently - by ordinary, vulnerable people among or associated with the invaders.
Our prime minister could embrace and forgive the people who killed our beloved sons and fathers, and so he should, but he could not, would not, apologise to the Aboriginal people for 200 years of murder and abuse. The battle against the Turks, he said in Gallipoli, was our history, our tradition. The war against the Aboriginals, he had already said at home, had happened long ago. The battle had made us; the war that won the continent was best forgotten
Palestine is our unforgettable historic home. The very name would be a force of marvelous potency for summoning our people together.
The first democratic revolution was England in the 1640s.
Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants in America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history.
My father's father fled a pogrom in Russia in the early 20th century and was welcomed to the United States. So was my stepmother, who escaped as a young girl from Communist Hungary in 1950.
History never really says goodbye. History says, 'See you later.'
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