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Obama's America: A Transformative Vision of Our National Identity
Our national identity is defined by what it means to be an American and whom we include and why when we talk about “the American people.” A country’s national identity is fluid, and Ian Reifowitz argues that President Barack Obama, by emphasizing the ideals Americans hold dear, hopes to redefine ours in a fundamental way. Obama’s conception of America emphasizes two principles of national First, all Americans, regardless of their heritage and cultural traditions, should identify with America as their country, based upon shared democratic values, a shared history, and a shared fate. Second, America should embrace all its citizens as active participants in one “family.” Reifowitz explores Obama’s belief that strengthening our common bonds will encourage Americans to rectify the injustices and heal the racial divisions that still plague our country.
We have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that a society of many races and cultures can truly become one people. In facing terrorism, violent fundamentalism, and other security issues, Obama’s response centers on a powerful, inspiring, and truly inclusive American narrative. By bolstering America’s identity as diverse yet unified, he aims both to counter the anxieties and fears that radicalism stokes and give proponents of religious and political freedom a model they can defend. The stakes couldn’t be any higher in determining America’s future.
We have the opportunity to demonstrate to the world that a society of many races and cultures can truly become one people. In facing terrorism, violent fundamentalism, and other security issues, Obama’s response centers on a powerful, inspiring, and truly inclusive American narrative. By bolstering America’s identity as diverse yet unified, he aims both to counter the anxieties and fears that radicalism stokes and give proponents of religious and political freedom a model they can defend. The stakes couldn’t be any higher in determining America’s future.
270 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
February 13, 2013
I am the author, and I'm very proud of this book. But rather than speak for myself, I'll paste things that other scholars have said:
Reifowitz explains clearly and engagingly....This book will be of interest to scholars of rhetoric, multicultural studies, and the American presidency, as well as to general readers of American history and politics."
--JENNIFER MERCIECA, author of Founding Fictions and associate professor of communication, Texas A&M University
"In this innovative, tightly reasoned, and concise work....Reifowitz brings a bracing dose of optimistic vision to today's usually dreary and polarized political debates."
--ALLAN J. LICHTMAN, author of White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, and professor of history, American University
"With lively prose and interpretive precision....Obama's America is one of those rare works of history that should enlighten the future as well as it explains something of great significance about the past."
--MICHAEL KAZIN, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation and professor of history, Georgetown University
"This is social science at its best. The book focuses on the president but employs insights into his identity as an individual to provide a penetrating and novel view of our identity as a people."
--AMITAI ETZIONI, author of The New Golden Rule and university professor, George Washington University
"Scrupulously attentive....This book is a conscientiously documented, vigorously argued defense of Obama's conception of the United States as an ethnoracial 'gumbo' sustained by a vibrant civic nationalism."
--DAVID A. HOLLINGER, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism and professor of history, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Reifowitz explains clearly and engagingly....This book will be of interest to scholars of rhetoric, multicultural studies, and the American presidency, as well as to general readers of American history and politics."
--JENNIFER MERCIECA, author of Founding Fictions and associate professor of communication, Texas A&M University
"In this innovative, tightly reasoned, and concise work....Reifowitz brings a bracing dose of optimistic vision to today's usually dreary and polarized political debates."
--ALLAN J. LICHTMAN, author of White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement, and professor of history, American University
"With lively prose and interpretive precision....Obama's America is one of those rare works of history that should enlighten the future as well as it explains something of great significance about the past."
--MICHAEL KAZIN, author of American Dreamers: How the Left Changed a Nation and professor of history, Georgetown University
"This is social science at its best. The book focuses on the president but employs insights into his identity as an individual to provide a penetrating and novel view of our identity as a people."
--AMITAI ETZIONI, author of The New Golden Rule and university professor, George Washington University
"Scrupulously attentive....This book is a conscientiously documented, vigorously argued defense of Obama's conception of the United States as an ethnoracial 'gumbo' sustained by a vibrant civic nationalism."
--DAVID A. HOLLINGER, author of Postethnic America: Beyond Multiculturalism and professor of history, Univ. of California, Berkeley
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review