From the early colonial years, Americans have

seen themselves as people of destiny and mission.

Our European forebears "invaded" the American

continent, and we, in turn, moved west. It was our

manifest destiny to conquer and populate the con-

tinent. We saw (and see) ourselves as independent

and mobile. Columbus, the first Thanksgiving, the

Founding Fathers, the frontiersman, the cowboy,

the rugged individual who surmounts all obstacles,

Daniel Boone, the Horatio Alger hero, Charles

Lindbergh have all entered the American pan-

theon. We see ourselves as peace-loving and non-

violent, although we ruthlessly conquered the native

American and find war cleansing. We romanticize

the small town and flock to the cities. All men are

created equal, but we discriminate against blacks

and Chicanos. We are consumer-oriented yet de-

plore the pollution that accompanies materialism.

We pursue happiness and believe in progress and

the infallibility of science, yet harbor doubts about

our success, our power, and our role in the world.

We believe in ourselves but, as we observe our

social fabric, have begun to doubt the validity of

the engine of progress.

James Oliver Robertson explores the American

myths: the stories, metaphors, and images we use,

consciously and unknowingly, to explain our world.

He tells of the myths we have inherited, created,

accepted, and transformed in order to understand

our society and ourselves--myths which enable us

to maintain our ideals, and which ultimately pro-

vide our reality. He takes the familiar and, with

daring imagination, explains the growth and evo-

lution of our vision of ourselves.

American Myth, American Reality is an auda-

cious and original interpretation of the functional

value and importance of the myths we hold.

Readers will argue with and applaud this book;

they will be staggered by its tremendous range and

pertinence; they will follow its brilliant course, for

it is a book that tells us what distinguishes Ameri-

cans-how our myths are different, and how they

reflect reality.