Existential America
by George Cotkin

Existentialism was the most widely espoused and influential philosophy of the 20th century, and its impact on American culture was profound. Yet Europe's leading existential thinkers--Sartre, Beauvoir and Camus--all felt that Americans were too self-confident to accept their philosophy. In Existential America, historian George Cotkin argues that the existential approach to life, marked by vexing despair and dauntless commitment in the face of uncertainty, has deep American roots. Cotkin examines America's long "pre-existentialist" tradition, explains how formal existentialism first arrived in America in the 1930s and 1940s, and traces the evolution of existentialism in America through the works of Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, Norman Mailer and Betty Friedan, as well as its looming presence in popular culture, particularly in Hollywood films. This engaging and original work is the only full-length study of existentialism in America. (December, 368 pages, $39.95)