Although the United States has always portrayed itself as a sanctuary for the world's victim's of poverty and oppression, anti-immigrant movements have enjoyed remarkable success throughout American history. None attained greater prominence than the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, a fraternal order referred to most commonly as the Know Nothing party. Vowing to reduce the political influence of immigrants and Catholics, the Know Nothings burst onto the American political scene in 1854, and by the end of the following year they had elected eight governors, more than one hundred congressmen, and thousands of other local officials including the mayors of Boston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Chicago. After their initial successes, the Know Nothings attempted to increase their appeal by converting their network of lodges into a conventional political organization, which they christened the "American Party." Recently, historians have pointed to the Know Nothings' success as evidence that ethnic and religious issues mattered more to nineteenth-century voters than better-known national issues such as slavery. In this important book, however, Anbinder argues that the Know Nothings' phenomenal success was inextricably linked to the firm stance their northern members took against the extension of slavery. Most Know Nothings, he asserts, saw slavery and Catholicism as interconnected evils that should be fought in tandem. Although the Know Nothings certainly were bigots, their party provided an early outlet for the anti-slavery sentiment that eventually led to the Civil War. Anbinder's study presents the first comprehensive history of America's most successful anti-immigrant movement, as well as a major reinterpretation of the political crisis that led to the Civil War.

Four friends called The Know-Nothings, because they don't know very much, decide to make lunch.

In recent years, political, religious, and other special-interest groups have waged war on behavioral and social research projects that threaten their interests and values. They have hounded researchers out of universities, cut off their funding through congressional and state legislative pressure, and harassed them with public demonstrations and picketing, all in the hope of forcing them to abandon their research. Formerly such unwanted involvement came from activists on the left. Now it comes from all across the political spectrum, as anti-science attitudes and techniques have diffused throughout society. In addition, conservative and religious forces lobby Congress and state legislatures against funding for major research projects of which they disapprove. This phenomenon represents a grave threat to both scientific freedom and the well-being of modern society.Morton Hunt gives us the first serious overview of this threat to behavioral and social science research. He illustrates precisely how scientific research has been subjected to political attack. The New Know-Nothings illustrates this phenomenon using in-depth case histories and background discussions of the conflicting social forces involved. It considers the prevalence of each form of opposition of research has been subjected to political attack. The New Know-Nothings illustrates this phenomenon using in-depth case histories and background discussions of the conflicting social forces involved. It considers the prevalence of each form of opposition to research, using interviews with expert observers in the sciences and government. Hunt reviews the nature-nurture debate, biological contributions to gender differences, conservative opposition to sex research in the schools, the debate over the controlled drinking approach to alcoholism, animal rights versus scientists' rights to use animals in research, the controversy over day care, anthropological research needs versus the Native American repatriation of re

Political protest against immigrants has come to a head several times in American history. The most famous and influential such protest was exemplified by the Know-Nothing Party, founded in 1854 and directed especially against Catholic immigrants. By the end of 1855 the party had elected eight governors, over one hundred Congressmen, and thousands of local officials. Prominent politicians of every persuasion joined the party, which then changed its name to the American Party. It; became a major element in the new Republican Party, which first produced a presidential candidate in 1856. The party and its influence has not attracted much attention from historians, because the events involved in the coming of the Civil War eclipsed interest in a movement that was only; peripherally involved with Civil War issues.; The Know-Nothings had a precipitous decline, starting with the 1856 election, at which their presidential candidate Millard Fillmore carried only one state. The Republican Party soon eclipsed it, too. Tyler Anbinder has written the first comprehensive history of the Know-Nothings, and his book represents a major revision of historiography in the years leading up to the Civil War.

Book Review

The Know-Nothings are determined to serve a turkey dinner, but it's chaos when they try and serve him live. Illustrations.

Americans are losing touch with reality. On virtually every issue, from climate change to immigration, tens of millions of Americans have opinions and beliefs wildly at odds with fact, rendering them unable to think sensibly about politics. In How America Lost Its Mind, Thomas E. Patterson explains the rise of a world of “alternative facts” and the slow-motion cultural and political calamity unfolding around us. We don’t have to search far for the forces that are misleading us and tearing us apart: politicians for whom division is a strategy; talk show hosts who have made an industry of outrage; news outlets that wield conflict as a marketing tool; and partisan organizations and foreign agents who spew disinformation to advance a cause, make a buck, or simply amuse themselves. The consequences are severe. How America Lost Its Mind maps a political landscape convulsed with distrust, gridlock, brinksmanship, petty feuding, and deceptive messaging. As dire as this picture is, and as unlikely as immediate relief might be, Patterson sees a way forward and underscores its urgency. A call to action, his book encourages us to wrest institutional power from ideologues and disruptors and entrust it to sensible citizens and leaders, to restore our commitment to mutual tolerance and restraint, to cleanse the Internet of fake news and disinformation, and to demand a steady supply of trustworthy and relevant information from our news sources. As philosopher Hannah Arendt wrote decades ago, the rise of demagogues is abetted by “people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.” In How America Lost Its Mind, Thomas E. Patterson makes a passionate case for fully and fiercely engaging on the side of truth and mutual respect in our present arms race between fact and fake, unity and division, civility and incivility.