America Right or Wrong : An Anatomy of American Nationalism: An Anatomy of American Nationalism"America keeps a fine house," Anatol Lieven writes, "but in its cellar there lives a demon, whose name is nationalism." In this controversial critique of America's role in the world, Lieven contends that U.S. foreign policy since 9/11 has been shaped by the special character of our national identity, which embraces two contradictory features. One, "The American Creed," is a civic nationalism which espouses liberty, democracy, and the rule of law. It is our greatest legacy to the world. But our almost religious belief in the "Creed" creates a tendency toward a dangerously "messianic" element in American nationalism, the desire to extend American values and American democracy to the whole world, irrespective of the needs and desires of others. The other feature, populist (or what is sometimes called "Jacksonian") nationalism, has its roots in an aggrieved, embittered, and defensive White America, centered largely in the American South. Where the "Creed" is optimistic and triumphalist, Jacksonian nationalism is fed by a profound pessimism and a sense of personal, social, religious, and sectional defeat. Lieven examines how these two antithetical impulses have played out in recent US policy, especially in the Middle East and in the nature of U.S. support for Israel. He suggests that in this region, the uneasy combination of policies based on two contradictory traditions have gravely undermined U.S. credibility and complicated the war against terrorism. It has never been more vital that Americans understand our national character. This hard-hitting critique directs a spotlight on the American political soul and on the curious mixture of chauvinism and idealism that has driven the Bush administration. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
An Exceptional Nationalism? | 19 |
Thesis Splendor and Tragedy of the American Creed | 48 |
Antithesis Part I The Embittered Heartland | 88 |
Antithesis Part II Fundamentalists and Great Fears | 123 |
The Legacy of the Cold War | 150 |
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Ameri American Creed American nationalism American political anti-Semitism Arab attacks attitudes belief Black Bush administration Bush's century China Christian Right churches civic nationalism Civil Cold Cold War conservative critical decades declared defeat democracy democratic economic elites enemies ethnic Europe European evangelical fear forces Foreign Policy France freedom French Frontier fundamentalist George German groups hatred hostility ideology immigrants imperial intellectual Iraq Iraq War Irving Kristol Israel Israeli Jewish Jews Kristol liberal lobby majority messianic Michael Michael Lind Middle East military millenarian modern moral Muslim myths nationalist neoconservatives Palestinian Party patriotic peace percent political culture population President Protestant quoted racial radical religion religious Republican Review of Books right-wing role Russia Scots Irish Senator social society Southern Soviet strategy tendency terrorism terrorist threat tion tional tradition U.S. policy United University Press Vietnam Walter Russell Mead Washington Post Western wider words York Review Zionism