The Statue of Liberty
A Transatlantic Story
by Edward Berenson
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The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is perhaps the most beloved of all American symbols. Yet no one living in 1885, when the crated monument arrived in New York Harbor, could have foreseen the central place it would come to occupy in the American imagination. Edward Berenson tells the little-known stories of the statue’s beginnings, transatlantic connections, and the changing meanings it has held for each American generation.
Berenson begins with the French intellectuals who decided to pay tribute to American liberty. Without any official backing, they designed the statue, announced the gift, and determined where it should go. The initial American response, not surprisingly, was less than enthusiastic, and the project had to overcome countless difficulties. The trials of its inception and construction, however, are only half of the story. Berenson shows that the statue’s symbolically indistinct form has allowed Americans to interpret its meaning in diverse ways: as representing the emancipation of the slaves, Tocqueville’s idea of orderly liberty, opportunity for “huddled masses,” and, in the years since 9/11, the freedom and resilience of New York City and the United States in the face of terror.
Hardcover Book : 256 pages
Publisher: Yale University Press ( May 01, 2012 )
Item #: 13-625051
ISBN: 9780300149500
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 8.25 x 0.64inches
Product Weight: 11.0 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
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