Who Are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity.
By Samuel P. Huntington
Though a few years old, this is an important and interesting
book. It is a bit of a heavy read, requiring focus, because it's by a Harvard
Academic, but it is well researched and documented, with a plethora of data and
quotes. The book is comprehensive discussion of how the American identity was
shaped, how recent events like the unprecedented immigration of millions who do
not seek to join the existing culture and how current trends may play out in
the future, it should be of interest to every thoughtful American, of whatever
political persuasion, who is concerned about the future. Some quotes to provoke
your interest: "...the proportion of Christians in America has
remained relatively constant. In three surveys between 1989 and 1996, between
84% and 88% of Americans said they were Christians. The proportion of
Christians in American rivals or exceeds the proportion of Jews in Israel, of Muslims in Egypt,
of Hindus in India, and of
Orthodox believers in Russia."
P99. "Americanization, Justice Louis Brandeis declared in 1919, meant that
the immigrant 'adopts the clothes, the manners, and the customs generally prevailing
here...substitutes for his mother tongue the English language,' insures that
'his interests and affections have become deeply rooted here.'...When he has
done all this he will have 'the national consciousness of an American.'"
P131 "'Classifications and distinctions based on race or color,' the
leading black attorney, Thurgood Marshall
argued in 1948, 'have no moral of legal authority in our society.'" P147. "23%
of Hispanic immigrants were citizens, compared to 69% of non-Hispanic
immigrants." P239 "Between 1994 and 1995, applications for
citizenship increased by over 75%.... ...the result of two factors.... First...
about 3,000,000 illegal immigrants became eligible for naturalization in 1994.
... Second, the vulnerability of government benefits available for aliens
became visible in 1994 with California's
proposition 187 and the debate leading up to Congresses passage of the Welfare
Reform and Control Act of 1996. (I'd add "under Bill Clinton!") These
developments threatened to open up a huge gap between the economic benefits
available to citizens and non-citizens." P218 "An analysis of welfare
use in 2001 by immigrants from a dozen regions and countries showed Mexican
immigrant households ranking first, with 34.1% using welfare, compared to 22.7%
of all immigrant households, and 14.6% of native American households." p236
Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of
the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick
Though I have been a Revolutionary war buff since my early
teens, soon 55 years ago, I gained both new knowledge and new insights from
this book. A Christmas gift from my brother (Thanks Tom) it presents the
well-known story of Benedict Arnold's treason in a different light, arguing
that it was a unifying force that pulled Americans together to finish the
revolution and create a united country. I knew that Arnold
had been essential to final victory due to his service at Saratoga. This suggests his betrayal,
loathsome as it was, preformed inadvertently a more important service for the
inchoate nation. Such are the great ironies of history. There was also much
detail and anecdotal stories that I was unaware of. I highly recommend this
excellent history.
