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Americanism: New Perspectives on the History of an Ideal
What is Americanism? The contributors to this volume recognize Americanism in all its complexity--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 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.
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
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What is Americanism? The contributors to this volume recognize Americanism in all its complexity--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 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.
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. The contributors are Mia Bay, Jun Furuya, Gary Gerstle, Jonathan M. Hansen, Michael Kazin, Rob Kroes, Melani McAlister, Joseph A. McCartin, Alan McPherson, Louis Menand, Mae M. Ngai, Robert Shalhope, Stephen J. Whitfield, and Alan Wolfe. The editors are Michael Kazin and Joseph A. McCartin.
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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.
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
<!--copy for pb
What is Americanism? The contributors to this volume recognize Americanism in all its complexity--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 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.
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. The contributors are Mia Bay, Jun Furuya, Gary Gerstle, Jonathan M. Hansen, Michael Kazin, Rob Kroes, Melani McAlister, Joseph A. McCartin, Alan McPherson, Louis Menand, Mae M. Ngai, Robert Shalhope, Stephen J. Whitfield, and Alan Wolfe. The editors are Michael Kazin and Joseph A. McCartin.
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- GenresHistory
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2006
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About the author
Michael Kazin
56 books66 followersMichael Kazin is a professor of history at Georgetown University. He is co-editor of Dissent magazine.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 5, 2020
FIrst to review! It is unfortunate that small-ish essay series like this one tend to get overlooked, as this is a quite interesting and well-edited set of essays on the theme of Americanism. There are two parts: the first set of essays deal with AMerican notions of Americanism, and the second part focuses on how interactions with other cultures have helped form American identities. The writers are some real deal excellent historians.
AMericanism is the sense, developed over the course of US history, of American difference or exceptionalism from the rest of the world. It isn't equivalent to exceptionalism because it is more of an internal creed/an argument about what our way of life is. This book plays on a couple of themes: 1. That much of AMericanism is defined by commitment to shared ideals, although we often overlook how notions of race/ethnicity/religion also formed Americanism 2. That critics of the US have frequently couched their criticism from within the family of Americanist ideals, arguing that it is patriotic to hold the nation to those ideals. 3. That foreign societies have seen something quite different in America, although they have not always liked it. Particularly strong essays include: the editors' introduction, Gary Gerstle's essay on liberal nationalism in the shadow of Vietnam, Alan Wolfe's essay on religious diversity as the most successful of all American experiments, Jan Furuya's essay on the development of Japanese nationalism in exchange with America, and Louis Menand's essay on the co-development of French thought and American pop culture around the WWII era. Some essays were a bit theoretical and less interesting, but overall this is an outstanding example of how to put together short, punchy articles on a central idea. A good resource for scholars.
AMericanism is the sense, developed over the course of US history, of American difference or exceptionalism from the rest of the world. It isn't equivalent to exceptionalism because it is more of an internal creed/an argument about what our way of life is. This book plays on a couple of themes: 1. That much of AMericanism is defined by commitment to shared ideals, although we often overlook how notions of race/ethnicity/religion also formed Americanism 2. That critics of the US have frequently couched their criticism from within the family of Americanist ideals, arguing that it is patriotic to hold the nation to those ideals. 3. That foreign societies have seen something quite different in America, although they have not always liked it. Particularly strong essays include: the editors' introduction, Gary Gerstle's essay on liberal nationalism in the shadow of Vietnam, Alan Wolfe's essay on religious diversity as the most successful of all American experiments, Jan Furuya's essay on the development of Japanese nationalism in exchange with America, and Louis Menand's essay on the co-development of French thought and American pop culture around the WWII era. Some essays were a bit theoretical and less interesting, but overall this is an outstanding example of how to put together short, punchy articles on a central idea. A good resource for scholars.
Displaying 1 of 1 review