This book traces the manifold functions of 'America' - as a view of history, a spiritual ideal, a myth of origins and a mode of identity, in the work of major influential writers from the Revolution to the Civil War.

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: The Music of America 2. The Ritual of Consensus 3. The Ends of Puritan Rhetoric 4. Cotton Mather and the Vision of America 5. The Typology of Mission, from Edwards to Independence 6. Continuing Revolution: George Bancroft and the Myth of Progress 7. The Return of Hester Prynne 8. Pierre , or the Ambiguities of Literary History 9. Emerson, Individualism, and Liberal Dissent 10. The Problem of Ideology in American Literary Studies Endnotes Index

"Rites of Assent may be not only Sacvan Bercovitch's most accessible book, but his most important as well. In it Bercovitch applies his influential earlier analysis of the Puritan jeremiad, the Puritan self, and the ideology of American liberal consensus to a wider range of American literature and culture. Rites of Assent will obviously be required reading for Americanists in every field." -- Gerald Graff, George M. Pullman Professor of English and Education"For thirty years, Bercovitch has been our most insightful and provocative critic of American culture and literature. Our leading intellectual historian and discourse theorist, he has shattered the myths, exposed the hidden rituals, and explicated the religious and political rhetoric that have mystified millions for two centuries. These essays will again awaken his audience to the delusions of the American dream and leave some wishing they could go back to sleep." -- Emory Elliott, Presidential Chair of English, University of California