France, after all, invented civilisation américaine—in 1835 when Alexis de Tocqueville did Democracy in America, from which all American Studies ultimately spring. There’s an angle to the dangle. The verve of viewpoint. Which brings up Inside, Outside. Inside : how homegrown, USA American Studies people sometime can’t see the forest for the trees. They are part of the very subject matter upon which they seek to get perspective. They may have an ax to grind. Or they can examine and strengthen values which help people cope with everyday life, improve understanding between minorities. Or aggravate them. Outside: while those who pursue American Studies far from USA shores actually experience the two divergent cultural trends of late 20th-early 21st Centuries: international interdependence and the national assertion of identity—specially in complement to and in competition with the USA. Outsiders are painfully aware how governments and corporations cheat globally. How America has always been a business (in the 13-plus, contradictory meanings of that word!). But, note, please,— how two main failings of homegrown American Studies have been pro-Americanism and superficiality. Two main failings abroad: anti-Americanism and superficiality. We stay vital if we keep hearts & brains open. Do not relent -vent! Worrisome too: whatever happened to the good old Euro-American win-win?

European seeds. Not to forget. That the garden of American Civilization grew from Western European seeds. As Henry Steele Commager wrote : America is the story of the interaction of an Old World culture and a New World environment, the early modification of the culture by the environment, and the subsequent modification of the environment by the culture. Maybe Europe and America are like the Moon and the Earth ; once related too.

Action is the crucial thing. The action of change. Doing. That the United States is a culture forever in the process of formation, reform, resurgence. Always more than a bit “f-ed up”; always with unbelievably humungously delicious moments of glory ; as rich as the New York skyline (there & gone), as dull as Sinclair Lewis’Main Street (there). Welcome to the paradox which is culture.

What a great subject to study.