Offers an account of one of the most important concepts underlying modern theories of American cultural identity. The author outlines how exceptionalism has contributed to the evolution of the US as an ideological and geographical entity from 1620 to the present day. She explains how its sense of spiritual and political destiny has determined American culture. It also raised counter arguments from native American and Chicano perspectives, and in the contemporary writings of such authors as Thomas Pynchon and Toni Morrison.