Synopses & Reviews
What is Americanism? The contributors to this volume recognize Americanism in all its complexityas an ideology, an articulation of the nation's rightful place in the world, a set of traditions, a political language, and a cultural style imbued with political meaning. In response to the pervasive vision of Americanism as a battle cry or a smug assumption, this collection of essays stirs up new questions and debates that challenge us to rethink the model currently being exported, too often by force, to the rest of the world.
Crafted by a cast of both rising and renowned intellectuals from three continents, the twelve essays in this volume are divided into two sections. The first group of essays addresses the understanding of Americanism within the United States over the past two centuries, from the early republic to the war in Iraq. The second section provides perspectives from around the world in an effort to make sense of how the national creed and its critics have shaped diplomacy, war, and global culture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Approaching a controversial ideology as both scholars and citizens, many of the essayists call for a revival of the ideals of Americanism in a new progressive politics that can bring together an increasingly polarized and fragmented citizenry.
Contributors:
Mia Bay, Rutgers University
Jun Furuya, Hokkaido University, Japan
Gary Gerstle, University of Maryland
Jonathan M. Hansen, Harvard University
Michael Kazin, Georgetown University
Rob Kroes, University of Amsterdam
Melani McAlister, The George Washington University
Joseph A. McCartin, Georgetown University
Alan McPherson, Howard University
Louis Menand, Harvard University
Mae M. Ngai, University of Chicago
Robert Shalhope, University of Oklahoma
Stephen J. Whitfield, Brandeis University
Alan Wolfe, Boston College
Review
A gem of a collection!
George J. Sanchez, University of Southern California, author of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945
Review
This admirable collection . . . enriches a necessary debate by complicating the conventional notion that Americanism belongs to the benighted.
Todd Gitlin, author of The Intellectuals and the Flag
Review
This collection of superb essays . . . are provocative in the best sense of the word.
Joyce Appleby, University of California, Los Angeles, author of Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans
Review
These essays sharpen and enliven the important debate about the character of American nationalism and its historic foundations.
David Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism
Synopsis
The contributors to this volume recognize Americanism as an ideology, an articulation of the nation's rightful place in the world, a set of traditions, a political language, and a cultural style imbued with political meaning. In response to the pervasive vision of Americanism as a battle cry or a smug assumption, this collection of 12 essays stirs up new questions and debates that challenge us to rethink the model currently being exported to the rest of the world. The first group of essays addresses the understanding of Americanism within the US over the past two centuries, from the early republic to the war in Iraq. The second section provides perspectives from around the world in an effort to make sense of how the national creed and its critics have shaped diplomacy, war, and global culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Contributors include Mia Bay, Melani McAlister, Alan McPherson, Louis Menand, and Alan Wolfe, among others.
Synopsis
A gem of a collection!
George J. Sanchez, University of Southern California, author of Becoming Mexican American: Ethnicity, Culture and Identity in Chicano Los Angeles, 1900-1945 This admirable collection . . . enriches a necessary debate by complicating the conventional notion that Americanism belongs to the benighted.
Todd Gitlin, author of The Intellectuals and the Flag This collection of superb essays . . . are provocative in the best sense of the word.
Joyce Appleby, University of California, Los Angeles, author of Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans These essays sharpen and enliven the important debate about the character of American nationalism and its historic foundations.
David Hollinger, University of California, Berkeley, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism
About the Author
Michael Kazin is professor of history at Georgetown University and author or coauthor of four books, including William Jennings Bryan: A Godly Hero and America Divided: The Civil War of the 1960s. Joseph A. McCartin is associate professor of history at Georgetown University. He is author of Labor's Great War: The Struggle for Industrial Democracy and the Origins of Modern American Labor Relations, 1912-1921 (from the University of North Carolina Press) and coeditor of American Labor: A Documentary Collection.