PDF Uncle Sam Wants You: World War I and the Making of the Modern American Citizen by Christopher Capozzola in History

Description

Exploration was a central and perhaps defining aspect of the West's encounters with other peoples and lands. Rather than reproduce celebratory narratives of individual heroism and national glory; this volume focuses on exploration's instrumental role in shaping a European sense of exceptionalism and its iconic importance in defining the terms of cultural engagement with other peoples. In chapters offering broad geographic range; the contributors address many of the key themes of recent research on exploration; including exploration's contribution to European imperial expansion; Western scientific knowledge; Enlightenment ideas and practices; and metropolitan print culture. They reassess indigenous peoples' responses upon first contacts with European explorers; their involvement as intermediaries in the operations of expeditions; and the complications that their prior knowledge posed for European claims of discovery. Underscoring that exploration must be seen as a process of mediation between representation and reality; this book provides a fresh and accessible introduction to the ongoing reinterpretation of exploration's role in the making of the modern world.