The Bookworm: Restless Nation: Starting Over in America

Why are Americans so violent? Until the mid-twentieth century the United States had more men than women, quite an anomaly in the industrial world, where, elsewhere, women inevitably outnumber men. Fed by new immigrants, this male population was young. In the eighteenth century, the median age of the colonial population was around sixteen. As late as 1900 it was only twenty-three. Almost all the individuals described in this book set out to make their mark on the world when they were teenagers. Only since World War II has the gender ratio changed, as women began to outnumber men among immigrants and in the population as a whole. In the same period, the median age of the American population has risen and currently stands at the mid-thirties. As a historian of this phenomenon puts it, “Insofar as young, single men are a society’s most troublesome and unruly citizens, America has a built-in tendency toward violence and disorder.”

The result, quite simply, has been violence…

A friend from Germany always asked me why Americans are so violent and I could never give an answer that satisfied either of us. Even as an American I’m unable to understand the sadistic tendencies of my own culture and thus have no way of explaining them to foreigners. I’ve always been curious myself and the above passage from James M. Jasper’s Restless Nation: Starting Over in America finally offered a plausible explanation, the first I’ve personally read.

Restless Nation presented quite a few eye-opening and interesting facts related to American culture, specifically on the book’s main subject: American restlessness and the tendency we have to move around. My move to California two years ago is a prime example of America’s restive tradition, and I’ve wanted to read a little regarding the phenomenon that not only took hold of me but also my mom, dad, uncle, grandpa, and millions of others searching for adventure and a new beginning.

Restless Nation is another book I was supposed to read in college. (The class, called American Values, was an American Studies course regarding American ideals, morals, and characteristics. Ironically, the professor was English.) Though I don’t remember what I read for class, I know it wasn’t the whole book. Then again, maybe I was supposed to… Either way, I left Restless Nation in Iowa City when I moved but brought it to California after my last trip back. I needed some reading so I raided my stack of old college texts.

By using the history of the New World, and a number of famous Americans who’ve embodied the characteristics associated with moving and starting over as examples, Jasper pieces together the great puzzle of our restlessness by outlining its origins and appeal. For example, did you know the American Dream is a European creation? The superficial ideal of a nice nuclear family and well kept house in the suburbs is the latest edition of a marketing scheme used all over Europe to attract new immigrants to the colonies. Vast amounts of land needed to be cleared and tamed for cultivation, which increased its value and profitability, and equally vast amounts of settlers were needed to do the work. Later, during the industrial revolution, the pitch was used to draw in more laborers to increase productivity and decrease wages.

I’m skimming the surface here (also, it’s been a few weeks since I finished so I may not be recalling all of Jasper’s commentary clearly). In each chapter Jasper investigates a part of American life and history attributing to our restlessness. He wrote about the boomtown mentality of violence, exploitation, and the attitudes of the men who hopped across the country searching for work during the gold and silver rushes of the 1800s (it’s the chapter where the opening quote is found); the tendency of Americans to change their names, reinventing themselves and wiping away a forgettable, and often unsuccessful, past; and Americans trust in the free markets. When surveyed, most Americans don’t believe a person’s socio-economic status has anything to do with their opportunities in life. We tend to believe in a great lottery where a few of us win and most of us lose. And because everyone has a chance to play the great lottery we believe the grossly uneven results are fair.

Interesting stuff, no?

Jasper even tackles Americans disregard for the environment and their everyday consequences on the world around them. The early settles cared little for their land and its resources, exploiting it to the point of uselessness because they could always move on to a different place. There was little value attached to the natural resources of the New World because people believed there was an inexhaustible supply of everything. Although time has progressed, Americans mindset toward their surroundings has changed very little. Our wastefulness has been passed on to us — almost genetically it seems — by our European ancestors.

Also intriguing, in regards to restlessness, was Jasper’s writing on immigration and the proliferation of the American Dream, that sales pitch used on peasants worldwide. Not everyone who immigrated to the United States stayed; the ones who failed to make it left. But the ones who succeeded, who took the chance and traveled thousands of miles in pursuit of a better life and found it, stayed and developed strong convictions regarding the American Dream, propagating their success stories and attracting wave after wave of new immigrants.

My little synopsis can’t do the book justice, so I suggest you pick it up yourself if you’re interested. It’s a tedious read — the text is tiny and there are shaded sidebars every few pages distracting you with related anecdotes or information — but Restless Nation is very informative and well researched.