Book Review

Declarations of Independency in Eighteenth-Century American Autobiography is a deeply flawed study in which Susan Clair Imbarrato sets up a series of comparisons she hopes will reveal the "development of subjectivity in eighteenth-century American discourse." The text is organized around three comparative chapters in which Imbarrato explores the similarities and differences between two spiritual autobiographies (by Elizabeth Ashbridge and Jonathan Edwards), two travel narratives (by Dr. Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth House Trist), and two political autobiographies (by Thomas Jefferson and John Adams). In her introduction Imbarrato presents the key assumption of her text: "Although the individual's subordination by communal structures may be well-founded [sic], this study argues that within that structure self-examination can potentially cultivate individual authority by bringing the individual closer to self-knowledge." As is repeatedly the case in this study, Imbarrato fails to explain how this operation would work. She assumes that the connection between self-knowledge and authority is self-evident.

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