At this pivotal moment, Hodgson's book provides a useful, if sometimes repetitive, examination of what he calls America's "distorted and selective narrative of exceptional virtue".
Most of us would define it as a status conferred on people of exceptional virtue; noble men and women who make spectacular sacrifices to defend others and protect principles.
"I never listen to David Barton without learning a whole lot of new things," Mr Gingrich has said.It is easy to see why politicians are attracted by the assertion that America was founded as a Christian land, and is hence called to be a place of exceptional virtue.
A YxxR motif (corresponding to residues 80-83 of NisB) is conserved in 89% of the LanB enzymes, while a GxG motif (363-365) is present in 92% of LanBs, with the LanB of C. lipophiloflavum being exceptional by virtue of lacking both glycine residues.
It has exceptional stiffness, mainly by virtue of having more aromatic rings incorporated into the polyester chain: This structure is arrived at by reacting bisphenol A, an aromatic derivative of benzene, with phosgene, a highly reactive and toxic gas.
Despite the frustrations of seeking the causes of exceptional creativity, Sudden Genius? has virtues that make it a useful complement to Where Good Ideas Come From.
Sarah Lamb, an American whom I saw here last week in Robbins's "Afternoon of a Faun" and as Princess Florine in "The Sleeping Beauty," has become an exceptional exponent of these Royal virtues.
Just as Cantona and Gascoigne were decades before him, Balotelli has been afforded lenience by virtue of his exceptional talent.
The choreography in the third and last act can look thin in spots, but the staging's overall virtue is its exceptional dramatic coherence.
This isn't a question of sinfulness so much as hubris, a dangerously complacent form of national solipsism that sees America as an exceptional nation, possessed of unique virtue.
