Review: Manfred Henningsen's Der Mythos Amerika

America, America, God shed His grace on thee! Most Americans embrace the notion that they live in a nation that has a special covenant with God.  We are the chosen nation: the greatest economy, the most powerful military, and, most important, the greatest force of good in the world.  In Der Mythos Amerika, Manfred Henningsen, long-time observer of America and a professor at the University of Hawaii, looks at the historical roots of American exceptionalism and at the same time examines the uncomfortable truths about the source of American power.  For the history of America has been written in blood, and the twin original sins of genocide and slavery have never been fully processed in the collective consciousness of the nation. 

Henningsen starts off with a premise that will ring familiar to any observer of the American political scene:

Nach einer mehr als zweihundertjährigen Geschichte versichern amerikanische Politiker noch immer, dass sie in der besten aller historischen Gesellschaften leben. Die formelhaften Superlative des Selbstlobs werden mit der gleichen Begeisterung von den republikanischen und demokratischen Kandidaten geäußert."

(After more than two hundred years of history American politicians reassure us still to this day that we live in the best of all historical societies.  The routine superlatives of self-congratulation are used with the same enthusiasm by both Republican and Democratic candidates.)