archive

Americans want to feel exceptional

Kathleen Vandenberg (BU): Twentieth Century American Advertising and the Sacred. Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for Jason "J.T." Ready, a reputed neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert. A review of The Gettysburg Gospel: The Lincoln Speech That Nobody Knows by Gabor Borritt. Where has all the greatness gone? Some Americans want to feel exceptional again — better not to talk about it. From International Socialist Review, a review of How Race Survived US History: From Settlement and Slavery to the Obama Phenomenon by David Roediger; and a review of The Bending Cross: A Biography of Eugene V. Debs by Ray Ginger. Exceptional down to the bone: James Bennett on anatomizing the origins of the American character. Tracking "go-getters" across America: Where do young workers want to live? A review of American Caesars: Lives of the US Presidents — from Franklin D Roosevelt to George W Bush by Nigel Hamilton. Peter Schrag on why strengthening the U.S.-Mexican border leads to more illegal immigration. Mark Hulliung on his book The American Liberal Tradition Reconsidered. The introduction to Heavenly Merchandize: How Religion Shaped Commerce in Puritan America by Mark Valeri. More on Made in America: A Social History of American Culture and Character by Claude Fischer. A plague on this house: Anti-immigrant sentiment is sabotaging America’s future — and it’s your fault.