{"product_id":"2940011949685","title":"The United States Unmasked","description":"Scanned, proofed and corrected from the original hardcover edition for enjoyable reading. (Worth every penny spent!)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e***\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ean excerpt from the beginning of the first chapter:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003eTHE REASONS FOR ENTERING ON THIS INQUIRY.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe overweening tone in which the people of the United States have long been boasting of their country, their government, and themselves, coupled with the vast and peculiar, but accidental advantages, long enjoyed by the inhabitants of these states, has gained for them a reputation for wisdom in the organization of their political institutions, and in the conduct of their affairs, to which they have little claim.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere is indeed much in the history and progress of this monster republic to excite the wonder of the world. Not even Imperial, and later, Papal Rome, ever exercised, by the mere force of opinion disseminated from it as a centre, a wider and vaster influence over the nations of the earth, than the United States have done for many years past. Not only have the old and highly civilized monarchies of Europe been convulsed, and some of them revolutionized, through the spreading of political doctrines and social theories, which, if they did not originate, germinated and now nourish in this paradise of democracy, where their fruits are fast maturing, if not yet quite ripe; but these convictions and dogmas in social science, emanating from the United States, now bear sway over the half barbarous republics of Mexico and South America, over the growing democracies of Australia and South Africa, and their influence seems to be felt in the remote, and, until lately, secluded empires of China and Japan.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe popular voice throughout the world has attributed the progress, prosperity, and power of the United States to the wisdom and justice of the political institutions generated there. These, it is believed, have secured the happy condition of the people; these have fostered that wonderful skill and energy which is speedily developing the latent resources of half a continent. This conviction has led the populace, wherever they have been awakened to the consideration of their political and social condition, to hail the United States as the pattern held up before the eyes of all mankind, to guide them in remodelling the institutions of their country, and in establishing the principles which here on earth are to regenerate humanity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut a vigilant and impartial observer, looking at the United States from different stand points within and without, and studying their history through the different periods of their career, can detect the grossly exaggerated misconceptions prevailing in Europe and elsewhere as to the prosperity of the United States, and as to the sources of that prosperity; and also as to the results of the democratic form of government adopted there. And when he has detected not only these gross misconceptions, but the vast and wide-spread mischief already done by receiving them as truths, he is bound in common honesty to point them out.","brand":"OGB","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47156491682032,"sku":"2940011949685","price":1.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940011949685_p0.jpg?v=1763551802","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940011949685","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}