Author: Samuel P Huntington
Publisher: Penguin
Year: 2004
Language: English
Pages: 428
ISBN/UPC (if available): 0143032410
Description
In the surge of patriotism in the weeks after 11 September 2001, the Stars and Stripes had never been so visible. In early October, eight out of ten Americans said they were displaying the flag. The retial Wal-Mart reportedly sold 250,000 flags on September 12th.
The flags were a physical evidence of the sudden and dramatic rise in the importance of national identity for Americans. But what does the American flag represent, and what are the cultural values it celebrates? For some it is McDonald's, Disney and baseball. For others its values are defined by those of the early British settlers who brought their own culture and language. For the African-American community and millions of Hispanic immigrants, it is none of these.
America has always had to wrestle with the problems of assimilating different cultures. Today, however, modern immigrants can retain the culture of their homeland more easily than ever, with long-distance phone calls, native-language television and cheap air travel. In Who Are We? Bestselling author Samuel P Huntington argues that America, rather than being an immigrant nation, is in fact a settler society, and that its core values were essentially defined over 200 years ago by the Anglo-Saxon Protestant settlers.
Who Are We? is an important work of political, historical and cultural enquiry that, as with Huntington's previous book, is certain to spark a lively debate.
Contents
FOREWORD
PART I: THE ISSUES OF IDENTITY
CHAPTER 1
The Crisis of National Identity?
CHAPTER 2
Identities: National and Other
PART II: AMERICAN IDENTITY
CHAPTER 3
Components of American Identity
CHAPTER 4
Anglo-Protestant Culture
CHAPTER 5
Religion and Christianity
CHAPTER 6
Emergence, Triumph, Erosion
PART III: CHALLENGES TO AMERICAN IDENTITY
CHAPTER 7
Deconstructing America: The Rise of Subnational Identities
CHAPTER 8
Assimilation: Converts, Ampersands, and the Erosion of Citizenship
CHAPTER 9
Mexican Immigration and Hispanization
CHAPTER 10
Merging America with the World
PART IV: RENEWING AMERICAN IDENTITY
CHAPTER 11
Fault Lines Old and New
CHAPTER 12
Twenty-first Century America: Vulnerability, Religion, and National Identity
Notes
Index