{"product_id":"beyond-the-farm-national-ambitions-in-rural-new-england-paperback","title":"Beyond the Farm: National Ambitions in Rural New England - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJ. M. Opal\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBeyond the Farm National Ambitions in Rural New England J. M. Opal \"Opal's book beautifully and uniquely captures an important moment when at least a few American men looked up from their plows toward a modern distant horizon, put them down, and walked toward it.\"--\u003ci\u003eAmerican Historical Review\u003c\/i\u003e \"Opal convincingly takes the reader through the transformations of ambition in rural New England as they intersected with the emergence of liberalism, capitalism, the nation, and modernity.\"--\u003ci\u003eJournal of the Early Republic\u003c\/i\u003e \"Through the lives of six 'ordinary' rural men who left their fathers' farms in search of something better, Jason Opal explains how ambition came to stand near the center of U.S. national character. Both a collective biography and a sweeping historical synthesis, \u003ci\u003eBeyond the Farm\u003c\/i\u003e sheds new light on the transformation of civil society and boldly revises our understanding of the emergence of capitalism.\"--Catherine E. Kelly, University of Oklahoma During the first half-century of American independence, a fundamental change in the meaning and morality of ambition emerged in American culture. Long stigmatized as a dangerous passion that led people to pursue fame at the expense of duty, ambition also raised concerns among American Revolutionaries who espoused self-sacrifice. After the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the creation of the federal republic in 1789, however, a new ethos of nation-making took hold in which ambition, properly cultivated, could rescue talent and virtue from the parochial needs of the family farm. Rather than an apology for an emerging market culture of material desire and commercial dealing, ambition became a civic project--a concerted reply to the localism of provincial life. By thus attaching itself to the national self-image during the early years of the Republic, before the wrenching upheavals of the Industrial Revolution, ambitious striving achieved a cultural dominance that future generations took for granted. \u003ci\u003eBeyond the Farm\u003c\/i\u003e not only describes this transformation as a national effort but also explores it as a personal journey. Centered on the lives of six aspiring men from the New England countryside, the book follows them from youthful days full of hope and unrest to eventual careers marked by surprising success and crushing failure. Along the way, J. M. Opal recovers such intimate dramas as a young man's abandonment by his self-made parents, a village printer's dreams of small-town fame, and a headstrong boy's efforts to both surpass and honor his family. By relating the vast abstractions of nation and ambition to the everyday milieus of home, work, and school, \u003ci\u003eBeyond the Farm\u003c\/i\u003e reconsiders the roots of American individualism in vivid detail and moral complexity. \u003cb\u003eJ. M. Opal\u003c\/b\u003e is Associate Professor of History at McGill University. Early American Studies 2008 280 pages 6 x 9 18 illus. ISBN 978-0-8122-4062-7 Cloth $55.00s  36.00 ISBN 978-0-8122-2156-5 Paper $24.95s  16.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0345-5 Ebook $24.95s  16.50 World Rights American History Short copy: During the first half-century of American independence, a fundamental change in the meaning and morality of ambition emerged. \u003ci\u003eBeyond the Farm\u003c\/i\u003e blends biography, social history, and cultural history to describe and explain that change.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eJ. M. Opal is Associate Professor of History at McGill University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 280\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.69 x 8.95 x 6.04 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eIllustrated:\u003c\/strong\u003e Yes\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 23, 2011\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52618044899635,"sku":"9780812221565","price":47.43,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0300\/5595\/6612\/files\/Zm9XcVQ3TVVZdnNtRVlGa0dEZHVKdz09.webp?v=1761900990","url":"https:\/\/www.vysn.com\/en-ca\/products\/beyond-the-farm-national-ambitions-in-rural-new-england-paperback","provider":"VYSN","version":"1.0","type":"link"}