Americans are passionate about democracy. Noted Jefferson scholar Andrew Burstein explores the metaphorically rich language Americans created two centuries ago to voice an underlying belief and direction: that the New World would be better than the Old. American patriotism became an emotive rhetoric in journals, letters, speeches and books. Sentimental Democracy: The Evolution of America’s Romantic Self-Image reveals how the 18th-century culture of sensibility fed American optimism about a global society. They believed their nation would succeed because of profound feeling as well as political liberty and intellectual achievement. | Sentimental Democracy by Andrew Burstein, Paperback | Indigo Chapters