About the Author

Dana D. Nelson is Professor of English and Social Theory at the University of Kentucky.

Reviews

"Dana Nelson's National Manhood exemplifies state-of-the-art literary and cultural American Studies. Nelson argues that the fractious popular and locally-focused politics of the early American Republic became contained throughout the ante-bellum period by a 'superclass ideal for national unity' deployed by rising managerial elites. This concept was white manhood, which consolidated middle-class professionaliz-ation through an identity of similarity that emphasized the nationalized male's difference from groups like women, blacks, and Indians... [a] brilliant model for the current re-shaping of American Studies."--European Journal of American Culture, Vol 19, issue 1