The Idea of "America" (I.E. the United States of America) is rooted in the Age of Reason.  The past couple of generations have arguably seen America in an age of "Un-reason", at least until Neil Degrasse Tyson stepped onto the stage
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Tyson offers the following eight essentials, each followed by a short, and sometimes wry, statement about “how the book’s content influenced the behavior of people who shaped the western world”:
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Tyson adds:

If you read all of [them] you will glean profound insight into most of what has driven the history of the western world.

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Check out Neil Degrasse Tyson's essential reading list here:
http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/12/29/neil-degrasse-tyson-reading-list/