Myths America Lives By

by Hughes, Richard T.

• ISBN13: 9780252072208
• ISBN10: 0252072200
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-07-06
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

In this book Richard T. Hughes identifies the five key myths that lie at the heart of the American experience--the myths of the Chosen Nation, of Nature's Nation, of the Christian Nation, of the Millennial Nation, and of the Innocent Nation. Drawing on a range of dissenting voices, Hughes shows that by canonizing these seemingly harmless myths of national identity as absolute truths, America risks undermining the sweepingly egalitarian promise of the Declaration of Independence. The Chosen Nation myth led to the wholesale slaughter of indigenous peoples during the pioneer era. More recently the Innocent Nation myth prevented many Americans from understanding, or even discussing, the complex motivations of the 9/11 terrorists. Myths America Lives By demonstrates that Americans must rethink these myths in the spirit of extraordinary humility if the United States is to fulfil its true promise as a nation. Hughes locates the roots of each myth in a different period of America's development, and from each of these periods he finds stirring critiques offered by marginalized commentators--especially African Americans and Native Americans--who question the predominant myth of their age.Myths America Lives By is a dialog between the mainstream mythmakers and the many critics--including Martin Luther King Jr., Ida B. Wells, Frederick Douglass, Black Elk, Anna J. Cooper, and Booker T. Washington, Malcom X, Angela Davis, and W. E. B. DuBois--whose dissent, rather than being un-American, was often grounded in a patriotic belief in the "self-evident" equality of America's fundamental creed.

Author Biography

Robert N. Bellah is Elliott Professor of Sociology Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
The Myth of the Chosen Nation: The Colonial Period	p. 19
The Myth of Nature's Nation: The Revolutionary Period	p. 45
The Myth of the Christian Nation: The Early National Period	p. 66
The Myth of the Millennial Nation: The Early National Period	p. 91
The Mythic Dimensions of American Capitalism: The Gilded Age	p. 126
The Myth of the Innocent Nation: The Twentieth Century	p. 153
Conclusion	p. 191
Index	p. 197
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.