The Roots of American Exceptionalism, Charles Lockhart, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2003, pp. 221.

In The Roots of American Exceptionalism: Institutions, Culture and Policies, Charles Lockhart has written a short book on a big topic that is sure to stimulate readers seeking to understand how America's unique political inheritance influences the world's only hyperpower. The book rests upon a premise that is simple to state, but much more complex to think through, namely that a nation's history shapes its political culture, which is both reflected and reinforced by institutional structures, and which then creates governance capacities that either facilitate or constrain potential policy outcomes.