Articulates the significance of early Middle Eastern civilization in the construction of American modernity.

Early Civilization and the American Modern explores how the teleological narrative that civilization and its benefits—science, law, writing, art, and architecture—began in Egypt and Mesopotamia addressed anxieties about the United States’ unique role in the long march of progress. To tackle this phenomenon, author Eva Miller highlights central collaborators of the creation of progressive visual narratives in key institutions, world’s fairs, and popular media such as Orientalist James Henry Breasted, astronomer George Ellery Hale, architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, and decorative artists Lee Lawrie and Hildreth Meière.

Eva Miller is a British Academy postdoctoral fellow in the history department at UCL.

List of figures and tables
List of abbreviations
Preface: Language, influences, relevance
Acknowledgements

1 Introduction: American apotheosis
2 Inheritance: How did civilization come to America?
3 Progress: Making sense of history through art
4 Origins: America in the lands of early civilization
5 Parallels: American Indians and the ancient East
6 Science: East and West meet at the National Academy of Sciences
7 Modernity: the Nebraska State Capitol and Los Angeles Central Library

Epilogue: The future
Bibliography
Index