ABSTRACT
More than a century ago, in 1845 to be precise, Marx described German historiography as 'a series of 'thoughts' which devour one another and are finally swallowed up in self-consciousness'. The North American intellectual nourished on a steady diet of Pan-americanism must be startled by the nearly complete absence of any serious consideration of US contributions to the study of history. Jaspers' refuge in the intuitions of humanity and self-reflection of individuals is duly noted and criticized, but without considering Jasper's acute analysis of the historical causes and consequences of German nazism, and more recently, without regard for his keen analysis of the dangers of thermonuclear war in a world of conflicting nationalisms. The posture of individual heroism in military battle might have been a suitable notion for a nineteenth-century romantic, but the disappearance of the distinction between combat and noncombat zones and military and civilian personnel necessarily changes the contents of the heroic vision, rationalist or irrationalist.
