The essays in this volume examine aspects of the ever-changing American imaginary over the last
two centuries from the cultural perspectives of the present age in which transnational
approaches have vigorously challenged American exceptionalist narratives. It is a time in which
uncertainties and reappraisals of group and national identity both within the US and abroad
are part of the framework of a comprehensive field of research for scholars in American Studies
in the social sciences and the humanities alike. While situated in the current tumultuous
century the contributors to this volume focus on specific issues of the US defining and
redefining itself from the mid-nineteenth century to the present.
