It isnβt often that one is asked, in a volume of literary criticism, a question on the order of: what is the most important event in modern history? But this is precisely what Martin Green asks toward the end of his newest book, The Great American Adventure.[1]1 shall return to his question in due course, but first let me say that this book, which the publisher describes as dealing with βaction stories from Cooper to Mailer and what they reveal about American manhood,β is not a work of historical analysis. It is instead a study of a dozen American adventure books seen as a reflection of Americaβs βcaste systemβ and her βimperialism,β as these have shaped American βmanliness.β
In subjecting these cultural phenomena to a moral and political critique, Green offers a pretense of historical coverage by organizing his carefully selected books into the following triadic scheme: THREE FROM PHILADELPHIAβCooperβs The Pioneers (1823), Irvingβs A Tour on the Prairies (1832), and Robert Birdβs Nick of the Woods (1837); THREE FROM BOSTONβRichard Danaβs Two Years Before the Mast (1840), Melvilleβs Typee (1846), and Parkmanβs The Oregon Trail (1849); THREE ANOMALIESβKit Carsonβs Autobiography (1856), Twainβs Roughing It (1872), and Theodore Rooseveltβs Autobiography (1913); and THREE AESTHETESβHemingwayβs The Green Hills of Africa (1935), Faulknerβs βThe Bearβ (1942), and Mailerβs Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967). What do these tales reveal to him?
According to Green, these stories disclose a common type of protagonist