Gillian Clark, Christianity and Roman Society - Huntington University

128 BOOK REVIEWS
Why is Professor McDougall qualified to author this new American history?
Countering the growing trend of sloppy or insufficient acknowledgment of sources, the
old-fashioned “Notes” section (fifteen percent of the book and full of substantive
comments) exhibits an almost astounding familiarity with important classic and recent
secondary sources. A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, McDougall could get away with a
skimpy set of citations, but he provides a clear demonstration that he possesses the
knowledge base necessary to write a masterly synthesis such as this.
Dr. McDougall’s anthropology and worldview should appeal to most readers of
Fides et Historia. The book’s thesis, simply stated, is that the key to understanding the
American in history requires realizing that “he or she is a hustler” (4). All kinds of
Americans have hustled, exploiting bountiful resources and, sometimes, their fellow
Americans in a selfish pursuit of happiness. “Americans have enjoyed more opportunity
to pursue their ambitions, by foul means or fair, than any other people in history” (5).
“[T]he ordered liberty they uniquely enjoyed naturally bred prosperity and reform, which
in turn bred more liberty, which someday they would export to the world” (7).
McDougall’s unique brand of American exceptionalism contends that the self-serving
nature of humanity, manifested in various forms of political, economic, and social
hustling, has led to national greatness. He makes a convincing case that America’s
hustlers have been “self-promoters, scofflaws, occasional frauds, and peripatetic selfreinventers…
[and] also hustlers in the positive sense: builders, doers, go-getters,
dreamers, hard workers, inventors, organizers, engineers, and a people supremely
generous” (7). In short, self-serving individuals or groups have shaped our national
character as much as anything else.
In the process of persuading the reader to see Americans as hustlers, McDougall
writes with a felicitous combination of scholarly vocabulary and erudition, along with
much down-to-earth, colorful language. Without over-using the hustling theme, he retells
familiar stories in fresh ways. With flair and finesse, he adroitly weaves numerous
lively anecdotes throughout the narrative. His treatment of well-known categories (New
England Puritans, Pennsylvania Quakers, Anglican planters, and Scotch-Irish
frontiersmen, for example) comprises a penetrating, non-judgmental analysis of their
hustling ways.
McDougall illustrates the theme’s traits in the lives of famous individuals such as
Benjamin Franklin and George Whitefield. “In their own ways, Whitefield and Franklin
were never off stage. Both hustlers for good causes, they also felt good about doing
well.…Whitefield’s career honed and hawked the techniques of revivalism. He made
fifteen tours of Scotland, three of Ireland, and seven of the colonies, where he was named
the American St. Paul” (132-3).
When dealing extensively with religion, McDougall demonstrates a discernment and
depth of understanding that betrays a personal faith, though it never becomes explicit,
much less preachy. Church historians may quibble with his occasionally novel or
provocative characterizations of this or that aspect of American Christianity.
Nevertheless, McDougall’s sophisticated interpretation of the vital roles of religion in our
history greatly contributes to making the book a delight to read.