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Seeking to determine precisely what it means to be an American, John Harmon McElroy compares the cultural history of the United States with the cultural histories of Brazil, Canada, Europe, and Spanish America.McElroy demonstrates that American culture is the least European of the four continental cultures developed after 1492. He believes the essential variance stems from the fact that the United States is populated by people and their descendants who chose the United States as home. In contrast, because immigration to Canada, Brazil, and South America was controlled by the European governments, they reflect a stronger European cultural outlook and orientation than the United States.

Apres quelques remarques sur l'intention de l'auteur en ecrivant History of the Life and Voyages of Christopher Colombus, l'A. decrit les materiaux et leur utilisation, et rapporte les jugements critiques ou elogieux des XIX et XXs. sur le travail accompli.

T HE PRINCIPAL IDEOLOGICAL reference in Hawthorne's "Ethan Brand: A Chapter from an Abortive Romance" is to the "unpardonable sin" of the title-character; the principal event of the story is his suicide by leaping into a furnace. Hawthorne seems to connect the two, the sin and the suicide, in a peculiar way through the name Brand. Just before killing himself Brand feels that he has nothing further to seek; no more to achieve. "'My task is done, and well done!"' he thinks. What he has done is probably stated in his soliloquy of farewell