"America the Beautiful"

Mary McCarthy’s essay, “America the Beautiful,” is reprinted in a new anthology edited by Phillip Lopate. Originally published in Commentary in September, 1947, the essay discusses the idea of an American materialism. "This republic was founded on an unworldly assumption, a denial of “the facts of life.” It is manifestly untrue that all men are created equal; interpreted in worldly terms, this doctrine has resulted in a pseudo-quality, that is, in standardization, in an equality of things rather than of persons. The inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness appear, in practice, to have become the inalienable right to a bathtub, a flush toilet, and a can of Spam.”