America was founded by settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for law. The waves of later immigrants came gradually accepted these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of immigrants, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the "denationalization" of American élites. September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism, but already there are signs that this is fading. This book shows the need for us to reassert the core values that make us Americans.--From publisher description.

In his new book, the author of THE CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS turns his attention from international cultural divides to the cultural rifts in America. The patriotic response to the events of September 11 only highlighted the loss of American identity at home, says Huntington, and already patriotic fervour has begun to subside. The United States was founded by British settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment and respect for law. Waves of immigrants later came to America, but they gradually accepted these values and assimilated into the Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of primarily Hispanic immigrants; bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship and the 'denationalisation' of American elites. To counterpoint this, Huntington draws attention to the beginnings of a revival of American identity in a post-September 11 world where countries face unprecedented challenges to national security. WHO ARE WE? is an important work of political, historical and cultural inquiry that, like Huntington's previous book, is certain to spark a lively debate.

Blockade is the story of a long-running trade battle at sea between Britain and Germany during the First World War. Each country fought for survival, but this book focuses on the story of the Northern Patrol and the 10th Cruiser Squadron. The Royal Navy’s role during World War I denying Germany access to the sea, trade, and vital resources was crucial to helping Britain win the war on the Western Front. The ‘Northern Blockade’, located across the inhospitable waters between Iceland and Scotland, was to bring the German economy to its knees and destroy her home front morale. Likewise, the Royal Navy’s success in negating Germany’s attacks on British commerce prevented much suffering in Britain. Steve Dunn vividly describes the final destruction of German surface vessel commerce warfare. He examines the American reaction to the British naval blockade and to Germany’s war on trade as well as Germany’s treatment of American sailors taken prisoner. Dunn also considers changes in strategy employed by both sides. Blockade brings to life the experiences of those who manned the blockade and creates a vivid picture of the dangers of duty in this highly significant, but overlooked aspect of World War I.

Why is national identity such a potent force in people's lives? And is the force positive or negative? In this thoughtful and provocative book, Elizabeth Theiss-Morse develops a social theory of national identity and uses a national survey, focus groups, and experiments to answer these important questions in the American context. Her results show that the combination of group commitment and the setting of exclusive boundaries on the national group affects how people behave toward their fellow Americans. Strong identifiers care a great deal about their national group. They want to help and to be loyal to their fellow Americans. By limiting who counts as an American, though, these strong identifiers place serious limits on who benefits from their pro-group behavior. Help and loyalty are offered only to 'true Americans,' not Americans who do not count and who are pushed to the periphery of the national group.

The American musical has achieved and maintained relevance to more people in America than any other performance-based art. This thoughtful history of the genre, intended for readers of all stripes, offers probing discussions of how American musicals, especially through their musical numbers, advance themes related to American national identity. Written by a musicologist and supported by a wealth of illustrative audio examples (on the book's website), the book examines key historical antecedents to the musical, including the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, nineteenth and early twentieth-century American burlesque and vaudeville, Tin Pan Alley, and other song types. It then proceeds thematically, focusing primarily on fifteen mainstream shows from the twentieth century, with discussions of such notable productions as Show Boat (1927), Porgy and Bess (1935), Oklahoma! (1943), West Side Story (1957), Hair (1967), Pacific Overtures (1976), and Assassins (1991). The shows are grouped according to their treatment of themes that include defining America, mythologies, counter-mythologies, race and ethnicity, dealing with World War II, and exoticism. Each chapter concludes with a brief consideration of available scholarship on related subjects; an extensive appendix provides information on each show discussed, including plot summaries and song lists, and a listing of important films, videos, audio recordings, published scores, and libretti associated with each musical.

This Violent Empire traces the origins of American violence, racism, and paranoia to the founding moments of the new nation and the initial instability of Americans' national sense of self. Fusing cultural and political analyses to create a new form of political history, Carroll Smith-Rosenberg explores the ways the founding generation, lacking a common history, governmental infrastructures, and shared culture, solidified their national sense of self by imagining a series of "Others" (African Americans, Native Americans, women, the propertyless) whose differences from European American male founders overshadowed the differences that divided those founders. These "Others," dangerous and polluting, had to be excluded from the European American body politic. Feared, but also desired, they refused to be marginalized, incurring increasingly enraged enactments of their political and social exclusion that shaped our long history of racism, xenophobia, and sexism. Close readings of political rhetoric during the Constitutional debates reveal the genesis of this long history.

Ever since Crevecoeur formulated his famous question, Americans have asked themselves: "What, then, is the American, this new man?", and even more urgently so once it became predictable that the traditionally majoritarian position of Anglo-Americans will dissolve in a sea of multi-ethnicity. What constitutes an American nation and produces collective identity among an extremely heterogeneous population? This comparative issue is addressed by sociologist Liah Greenfeld in her introductory essay. Other essays contributed by historians and political scientists from the U.S., England, and Germany discuss historical developments and phenomena which have led to regional or group-specific identities which, in complex ways, contribute to, and interact with American national identity and nationalism.