TheAmericans

BOOKS BY DANIEL J. BOORSTIN Democracy and Its Discontents The Americans: The Colonial Experience The Americans: The National Experience The Americans: The Democratic Experience The Mysterious Science of the Law The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson The Genius of American Politics America and the Image of Europe The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America The Decline of Radicalism The Sociology of the Absurd The Chicago History of American Civilization (27 vols.; editor) An American Primer (editor) American Civilization (editor) for young readers The Landmark History of the American People Vol. I: From Plymouth to Appomattox Vol. II: From Appomattox to the Moon FOR Ruth NEW BEGINNINGS In 1845, The Emigrants’ Guide to Oregon and California recorded Lansford W. Hastings’ experience with his company of one hundred and sixty who set out overland from Independence, Missouri, on May 16, 1842: “Now, all was high glee, jocular hilarity, and happy anticipation, as we thus darted forward into the wild expanse, of the untrodden regions of the ‘western world.’ The harmony of feeling, the sameness of purpose, and the identity of in......