American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals about Our Divided Souls, (Hardcover)

<p><strong>How the Odyssey illuminates the two sides of the American mind, from one of our most influential cultural commentators.</strong></p><p>The <em>Odyssey</em> is among the oldest-known written works. Yet it is somehow profoundly contemporary. Its themes are inescapably human: the desire to strike out for new adventures; the aspiration to be more than human; the temptation to wallow in beastlike torpor; the impulse to exact vengeance; the possibility that mercy might bring a violent cycle to an end.</p><p>Surprisingly, as the celebrated political philosopher Patrick Deneen explains in this eye-opening book, the <em>Odyssey</em> is also the most American of ancient texts. Like Odysseus, Americans have two fundamental impulses: we are a people simultaneously animated by commitments to being at home and leaving home. Deneen shows us that the deep ambivalence at the heart of the Odyssey is also our own--as some of our greatest books and films attest, from <em>Huckleberry Finn</em> to <em>The Wizard of Oz</em> to <em>Field of Dreams</em> to <em>It's a Wonderful Life</em>.</p><p>The coincidence of the United States semiquincentennial and the release of the blockbuster film <em>The Odyssey</em> affords a remarkable opportunity to explore the deep similarities between the ancient Greek epic and the American character. With his characteristic insight, Deneen reveals how Americans' Western inheritance contains a paradox, and a set of tensions, that remain at the core of our divided souls.</p>

• American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals about Our Divided Souls, (Hardcover)
• Author: Patrick J Deneen
• ISBN: 9781967613328
• Format: Hardcover
• Publication Date: 2026-07-21
• Page Count: 198