Charles A. Geiger is member of our society, his profession is Apl. Prof. at the University of Salzburg Fachbereich Chemie und Physik der Materialien, Abt. Materialwissenschaften & Mineralogie, Jakob-Haringer-Strasse 2a, 5020 Salzburg, Österreich.
There are a number of misunderstandings about the USA and its history and not just among Europeans. One of the biggest ones was that the USA, as we know it today, was somehow preordained. However, just a quick perusal of history demonstrates that this was never the case. The USA in all its expressions, ways of thought and institutions, was never planned and no one could foresee how it would develop. In fact, one can speak of an experiment. There is something called “American Exceptionalism”.