The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 7 May 2009
by Lewis Mumford
American individualism is one of this country's strengths. It is what the Bill of Rights is at least partly about. Collective action isn't necessarily anathema to the Constitution, but there are people who would have you think so. The pioneer spirit, the great westward migration, exploitation of resources, all of these are the cultural heritage of all Americans. We tend to think that these things make us great. But, in a world with melting icecaps and vanishing forests, that great pioneer spirit is no longer viable. We to manifest that spirit now in ever bigger houses, golf course lawns, and giant SUVs (Though the new economy is putting a damper on that, don't count it out yet).
Way back in 1926, Lewis Mumford wrote this reflection on American culture and its literature. Much of what he says about the culture could have been written at any time in the past several years. It sounds that relevant. But it is also a study of the literature and, in that, it is somewhat idiosyncratic. Mumford himself, in a preface to the 1957 edition, suggests that his overview is incomplete and that he failed to fully apprehend what posterity would think of some of the authors he writes about. Mumford admits, also, to focusing on the authors he knows well. This is most evident in his commentary on Herman Melville, a biography of whom Mumford also published. This book, in the end, is essentially a collection of lectures Mumford gave in Europe. In it, he gives us an overview of the American experiment in abandoning European culture while also taking some of that culture into the wilderness that awaited the pioneers. He paints a convincing portrait of how American culture evolved away from its ancient roots, came up with its own literature and philosophy, and then devolved during the Gilded Age into a morass of oppressive utilitarian capitalism, from which, Mumford hoped, it would rise again in a great collective understanding of what truly makes for a meaningful life.
The Golden Day of the title, if this reader understands him correctly, is the era of Emerson and Thoreau, Melville and Whitman, just before, during and after the American Civil War. This was the era in which American philosophy reached some apotheosis. The context of this study, also, is a time in which American literature and culture were widely considered inferior to the European. Mumford was attempting to rescue our culture from this derision. Ultimately, American letters would find their place. It isn't clear if that's Mumford's contribution, but his work is compelling. Mumford, perhaps most widely known for his writing on architecture and urban development, was a very good writer. Despite its density and somewhat arid tone, this book is engrossing. The writing is witty and well argued. Most of it remains relevant more than eighty years after it was first published. For what Mumford says about our capitalist culture and the need for a compassionate awakening, the book is actually quite immediate (though one might be depressed that advice given eighty years ago remains good advice today, that on this level nothing seems to have changed in a century). A number of other writers are examined in this book, some of whom are now much less well-known, others who have remained pinnacles of our literature (i.e. Twain, Thoreau, Henry and William James, Mary Austin, and James Fenimore Cooper, to name a few). One doesn't necessarily need to have read all these to enjoy this study, though some understanding of this pre-depression context may be useful. An excellent, personal and idiosyncratic study.
Also by Mumford: [The City in History] [Sticks & Stones]
See also: [Sidewalk Critic]