The American Mind. by COMMAGER, Henry Steele - 1950: An interpretation of American thought and character since the 1880s.

New Haven: Yale University Press,, 1950. First edition, first printing. Inscribed on the front free endpaper by the author: "Mr. Katzenbach with good wishes Henry Steele Commager". Commager (1902-1998) was one of the most prolific American historians of his time, whose works helped define American liberalism. The present work, one of his most famous, argues that the American mind is rational, secular and pragmatic, and consequently those whom he criticises as "irrationalists" - a broad church including Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound - are castigated as contrary to the American tradition. Despite this, Commager was a supporter of pluralism and freedom of thought, and he publicly opposed McCarthyism. Octavo. Original beige boards, spine and front cover lettered in blue. With dust jacket. Light white marking to spine. A very good copy in the chipped dust jacket, lightly creased and toned, spine panel heavily faded, foxed on verso.