The Fate of America: An Inquiry into National Character Book

	Introduction
Pt. I	America's Heroic Ideal
	Prelude: The Aspiration Toward Greatness	2
1	Two Souls Within the Human Breast	9
2	The Revolutionary	29
3	The Frontiersman	39
4	Contemporary Heroic Idealism	50
Pt. II	The High Life
	Prelude: The Metaphor of Height	66
5	The Commercialism of America's Heroic Ideal	71
6	Heroic Mania	87
7	The Imitation of Heroism	100
8	Heroic Tunnel Vision	107
9	The Escape from Heroism	122
10	The Metaphor of Depth	133
Pt. III	The Underside of Innocence
	Prelude: The Style of Innocence	144
11	The Historical Roots of American Innocence	149
12	Jefferson's Bastards	166
13	The Land of the Overrated Child	187
14	The Metaphor of the Eternally Young Hero	209
15	The Explosion of Innocence	221
16	The Metaphor of America's Darkness	238
17	The Implosion of Innocence	264
18	The Sacrifice of Innocence	276
Pt. IV	The Fate of America
	Prelude: The Unpredictable Nature of History	284
19	America in the Third Millennium	287
	Notes	309
	Acknowledgments	343
	Index	347
	About the Author	368