The American Exception, Volume 1

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xv

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Frank J. Lechner

   Pages 1-21

3. “A Shining City”? Perspectives on the American Exception

   • Frank J. Lechner

   Pages 23-75

4. “A Sea of Faith”: The American Religious Exception

   • Frank J. Lechner

   Pages 77-131

5. “Equal Justice under Law”: The American Legal Exception

   • Frank J. Lechner

   Pages 133-188

6. “Almost an Island unto Itself”: The American Sports Exception

   • Frank J. Lechner

   Pages 189-246

7. Back Matter

   Pages 247-253

   PDF

This book examines what makes the United States an exceptional society, what impact it has had abroad, and why these issues have mattered to Americans. With historical and comparative evidence, Frank J. Lechner describes the distinctive path of American institutions and tracks changes in the country’s national identity in order to assess claims about America’s ‘exceptional’ qualities. The book analyzes several focal points of exceptionalist thinking about America, including the importance of US Constitution and the American sense of mission, and explores several aspects of America’s distinctive global impact; for example, in economics and film. In addition to discussing the distinctive global impact of the US, this first volume delves into religion, law, and sports.  

• US History
• Exceptionalism
• Globalization
• US Politics
• US Law
• Sports
• Technology
• Culture
• World Stage
• American Exceptionalism

• Department of Sociology, Emory University, Atlanta, USA

  Frank J. Lechner

Frank J. Lechner is Professor of Sociology at Emory University, USA. He has published World Culture: Origins and Consequences (2004; with John Boli), The Netherlands: Globalization and National Identity (2008), and Globalization: The Making of World Society (2009). With John Boli he edited The Globalization Reader (fifth edition, 2015).