false 1989140 1 <div>In this absorbing book, George McKenna ranges across the entire panorama of American history to track the development of American patriotism. That patriotism&#8212;shaped by Reformation Protestantism and imbued with the American Puritan belief in a providential &#8220;errand&#8221;&#8212;has evolved over 350 years and influenced American political culture in both positive and negative ways, McKenna shows. The germ of the patriotism, an activist theology that stressed collective rather than individual salvation, began in the late 1630s in New England and traveled across the continent, eventually becoming a national phenomenon. Today, American patriotism still reflects its origins in the seventeenth century.<br><br> <br><br>By encouraging cohesion in a nation of diverse peoples and inspiring social reform, American patriotism has sometimes been a force for good. But the book also uncovers a darker side of the nation&#8217;s patriotism&#8212;a prejudice against the South in the nineteenth century, for example, and a tendency toward nativism and anti-Catholicism. Ironically, a great reversal has occurred, and today the most fervent believers in the Puritan narrative are the former &#8220;outsiders&#8221;&#8212;Catholics and Southerners. McKenna offers an interesting new perspective on patriotism&#8217;s role throughout American history, and he concludes with trenchant thoughts on its role in the post-9/11 era.<br><br> <br><br></div> 1992755 28 8 2007 The Puritan Origins of American Patriotism total:3|5:2|1:1| 3 11 8 1 5 0 false false Mon Mar 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Mar 03 15:18:59 -0800 2009 Mon Mar 16 17:26:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jun 18 22:11:42 -0700 2009 Thu Jun 18 22:11:42 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Jun 18 08:02:21 -0700 2009 Wed Aug 05 13:22:46 -0700 2009 5 0 false false Sat Nov 01 13:53:45 -0700 2008 Sat Nov 01 13:53:45 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sat Oct 11 14:34:20 -0700 2008 Sat Oct 11 14:34:22 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Thu Aug 14 18:52:01 -0700 2008 Thu Aug 14 18:52:01 -0700 2008 1 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 08:32:53 -0800 2008 Wed Feb 13 08:33:45 -0800 2008 0 0 false false Thu Dec 27 20:44:08 -0800 2007 Thu Dec 27 20:44:13 -0800 2007 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1989140