04240nam 2200793 a 450 991046278800332120200520144314.00-300-18984-21-283-90642-20-300-18280-510.12987/9780300189841(CKB)2670000000334001(OCoLC)823896931(CaPaEBR)ebrary10633379(SSID)ssj0000782615(PQKBManifestationID)11455986(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000782615(PQKBWorkID)10745937(PQKB)10045778(MiAaPQ)EBC3421099(DE-B1597)486248(OCoLC)1024004964(DE-B1597)9780300189841(Au-PeEL)EBL3421099(CaPaEBR)ebr10633379(CaONFJC)MIL421892(OCoLC)923601748(EXLCZ)99267000000033400120120918d2013 uy 0engurcn|||||||||txtccrAmbition, a history[electronic resource] from vice to virtue /William Casey KingNew Haven Yale University Press20131 online resource (257 p.) Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: MonographIncludes bibliographical references and index.From Vice to Christian Sin -- Ambition as Sin in Early Modern English Culture : Perilous Acts of Self-Elevation, Subversive Acts of Self-Negation -- The Plague and Countervailing Passions -- Harnessing Ambition in the Age of Exploration -- Epilogue.From rags to riches, log house to White House, enslaved to liberator, ghetto to CEO, ambition fuels the American Dream. Americans are driven by ambition. Yet at the time of the nation's founding, ambition was viewed as a dangerous vice, everything from "a canker on the soul" to the impetus for original sin. This engaging book explores ambition's surprising transformation, tracing attitudes from classical antiquity to early modern Europe to the New World and America's founding. From this broad historical perspective, William Casey King deepens our understanding of the American mythos and offers a striking reinterpretation of the introduction to the Declaration of Independence.Through an innovative array of sources and authors-Aquinas, Dante, Machiavelli, the Geneva Bible, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, and many others-King demonstrates that a transformed view of ambition became possible the moment Europe realized that Columbus had discovered not a new route but a new world. In addition the author argues that reconstituting ambition as a virtue was a necessary precondition of the American republic. The book suggests that even in the twenty-first century, ambition has never fully lost its ties to vice and continues to exhibit a dual nature, positive or negative depending upon the ends, the means, and the individual involved.AmbitionPolitical aspectsUnited StatesHistoryAmbitionSocial aspectsUnited StatesHistoryNational characteristics, AmericanHistoryChristianity and cultureUnited StatesHistorySocial valuesUnited StatesHistorySocial changeUnited StatesHistoryAmbitionSocial aspectsEnglandHistoryChristianity and cultureEnglandHistoryUnited StatesCivilizationTo 1783EnglandCivilizationElectronic books.AmbitionPolitical aspectsHistory.AmbitionSocial aspectsHistory.National characteristics, AmericanHistory.Christianity and cultureHistory.Social valuesHistory.Social changeHistory.AmbitionSocial aspectsHistory.Christianity and cultureHistory.973King Casey(William Casey)1053337MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910462788003321Ambition, a history2485191UNINA