A Great Disorder

National Myth and the Battle for America

Richard Slotkin

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Hardback

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English

Harvard University Press
17 June 2024

History; History of the Americas; Social & cultural history; Military history; Conservatism & right-of-centre democratic ideologies; Nationalism

Longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction

A Foreign Affairs Best Book of the Year

As culture wars pit us against each other, A Great Disorder looks to the myths that have shaped American identity and reveals how they have brought us to the brink of an existential crisis.

Red America and Blue America are so divided they could be two different countries, with wildly diverging views of why government exists and who counts as American. Their ideologies are grounded in different versions of American history, endorsing irreconcilable visions of patriotism and national identity.

A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of today's culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of America's foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Famous for his trilogy on the Myth of the Frontier, Richard Slotkin identifies five myths, born of different eras, that have shaped our conception of what it means to be American: the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (which he breaks into two opposing camps, Emancipation and the Lost Cause), and the Good War, embodied by the multiethnic platoon fighting for freedom. His argument is that while Trump and his MAGA followers have played up a frontier-inspired hostility to the federal government and rallied around Confederate symbols to champion a racially exclusive definition of American nationality, Blue America, taking its cue from the protest movements of the 1960s, envisions a limitlessly pluralistic country in which the federal government is the ultimate enforcer of rights and opportunities. American history-and the foundations of our democracy-have become a battleground. It is not clear at this time which vision will prevail.

By: Richard Slotkin
Imprint: Harvard University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 34mm
Weight: 902g
ISBN: 9780674292383
ISBN 10: 0674292383
Pages: 528
Publication Date: 17 June 2024
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Out of Stock Indefinitely

Richard Slotkin is the Olin Professor of English and American Studies, Emeritus, at Wesleyan University, best known for his award-winning trilogy on the Myth of the Frontier, two volumes of which, Regeneration Through Violence and Gunfighter Nation, were finalists for the National Book Award. Winner of the Shaara Award for Civil War fiction, he regularly contributes to media projects on gun violence, racism, the Civil War, and the West.

Reviews for A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America

Throughout his storied career, Richard Slotkin has worked tirelessly to pierce America's fictions with facts. His new work not only chronicles the creation of some of this country's central myths but shows quite clearly how they have been mobilized by both sides of the contemporary culture wars. A Great Disorder is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand the past, present, and future possibilities of American democracy.--Kevin M. Kruse, coeditor of Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past