The least familiar figure in this collection is Edward Everett Hale, author of "The Man Without A Country." Unlike the more familiar authors, Hale's other writings are obscured by the fame of this single story. In spite of its heavy, handed didacticism, "The Man Without A Country," is a story which has become a part of the folklore of the American character.

On one level the story can be interpreted as an endorsement of the jingoist, "My country right or wrong," position in nationalism. On an- other level, the story is a homily on loyalty and patriotism. But on the symbolic level. the story underscores man's psychological need for identity and involvement with institutions. In this sense, the story is in the traditional social view that be gan with Aristotle's observation, "Man is by na- ture a political animal," and is reflected in John Donne's famous line, "No man is an island." The same sentiment is dramatically stated in the story when Philip Nolan recites Sir Walter Scott's familiar quotation:
"Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself has said—
This is my own, my native land!"
Complete and Unabridged
--back cover