Americanism

by Kazin, Michael; McCartin, Joseph A.

• ISBN13: 9780807858974
• ISBN10: 0807858978
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-02-25
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

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.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

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Whose America?
See Your Declaration Americans!!!: Abolitionism, Americanism, and the Revolutionary Tradition in Free Black Politics	p. 25
Anticipating Americanism: An Individual Perspective on Republicanism in the Early Republic	p. 53
True Americanism: Progressive Era Intellectuals and the Problem of Liberal Nationalism	p. 73
The American Century of Henry R. Luce	p. 90
The Unlovely Residue of Outworn Prejudices: The Hart-Celler Act and the Politics of Immigration Reform, 1945-1965	p. 108
In the Shadow of Vietnam: Liberal Nationalism and the Problem of War	p. 128
Religious Diversity: The American Experiment That Works	p. 153
Americanism in the World
Americanism against American Empire	p. 169
Japanese Intellectuals Define America, from the 1920s through World War II	p. 192
The Promise of Freedom, the Friend of Authority: American Culture in Postwar France	p. 205
French Views of American Modernity: From Text to Subtext	p. 221
Suffering Sisters? American Feminists and the Problem of Female Genital Surgeries	p. 242
Contributors	p. 263
Acknowledgments	p. 265
Index	p. 267
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