Independent Self Quote by Joshua Wolf Shenk

“Nineteenth-century America was gone; twentieth-century America was alien. “All that I thought American in a true sense is gone, and I see nothing but…

— Edith Wharton

“For the first phase of American history, “hope was chiefly expressed through a Christian story that gave meaning to suffering and pleasure alike and…

— Timothy J. Keller

“The interaction of disparate cultures, the vehemence of the ideals that led the immigrants here, the opportunity offered by a new life, all gave…

— John F. Kennedy

“...in one hundred years we have lost the best human virtues of the nineteenth century: fervent idealism and the primacy of feeling: the shock…

— Gabriel García Márquez

“In my opinion,' he said, 'the nineteenth century is passing for everyone except us.”

— Gabriel García Márquez

The hope of the nation which throughout the nineteenth century had not for a moment reconciled itself with the loss of independence, and fighting…

— Lech Walesa

“What now strikes as remarkable about the new moneyed class of the nineteenth century is their complete irresponsibility;they see everything in terms of individual…

— George Orwell

“Far from being marginalized, as is presently the case, nineteenth-century freethought was a social movement at the core of our national life.”

— Fred Whitehead

“Like all Americans, or like all Americans who are conscious of being American, Parker and Zema's father always believed he was his country. But…

— Steve Erickson

“Writing during the heyday of Modernization Theory, the French critic Raymond Aron, though resolutely anti-communist, termed American-style individualism the product of a short history…

— Pankaj Mishra

“And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country” that they summoned…

— Robert A. Caro

“With each surge of westward movement a new community came into being. These communities devoted themselves not to marching onward but to cultivating the…

— Henry Nash Smith