Excerpt from American CharacterThe tolerant Tolstoi asked his visitor why he thought so ill of us and the journalist of Paris then put forth the opinion that we Americans are a people terribly practical, avid of pleasure, systematically hostile to all idealism. The ambition of the American's heart, the passion of his life, is money; and it is rather a delight in the conquest and possession of money than in the use of it. The Americans ignore the arts they despise disinterested beauty. And now, moreover, they are imperialists. They could have remained peaceful without danger to their national existence; but they had to have a eet and an army. They set out after Spain, and attacked her; and now they begin to defy Europe. Is there not something scandalous in this revelation of the conquering appetite in a new people with no hereditary predisposition toward war?About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.

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