A Short Story of American Destiny (1909-2009)

In 1909, the Champlain and Hudson Valleys-and America and the worldalong with them-celebrated the 300th anniversary of European 'discovery'of these regions. Marking America’s entry onto the world stage, the 1909commemorations’ parades, pageants, speeches and other spectacles propheticallymapped the nation’s 20th century course toward empire.In the same year, the Austrian esoteric teacher Rudolf Steiner propheticallyenvisioned a very different American and world destiny, one whose culminationcomes in 2009, the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain and HenryHudson’s fateful landings.Focusing its historical gaze on Burlington, Vermont and Manhattan, A ShortStory of American Destiny, 1909-2009 is an unsettling, surprising look at asmall set of past events with profound implications for our present moment.Author of Across the Great Border Fault: The Naturalist Myth in Americaand Bright Colors Falsely Seen: Synaesthesia and the Search for TranscendentalKnowledge, Dr. Kevin Dann teaches in the History Department at StateUniversity of New York, Plattsburgh.San Rafael, California