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9781538143421

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Of Thee I Sing is a remarkably timely book that forces Americans to reckon with the true history of US patriotism. Analyzing the concept from the colonial period through the Age of Trump, Railton reveals how both the right and the left have used patriotism in vastly different ways to achieve radically different ends. From maintaining white-elite patriarchal power to fighting for human and Civil Rights, Of Thee I Sing proves that patriotism has always been, and always will be, an incredibly powerful tool in American politics.--Keri Leigh Merritt, Author of Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South Ben Railton offers an insightful approach into how U.S. patriotism has been contradictorily defined since the founding of the country. He astutely argues that celebratory patriotism, where the U.S. is a perfect country, has evolved along with critical patriotism, where citizens work towards creating a more perfect union, and that both definitions have often been at odds with each other. Railton references a wide variety of popular cultural artifacts to demonstrate these competing definitions and brings his significant analysis into 2020. Anyone interested in how these contested definitions of U.S. patriotism began and have evolved would benefit from reading this book.--Teresa Bergman, Professor of Communication at the University of the Pacific; author of Exhibiting Patriotism: Creating and Contesting Interpretations of American Historic Sites and Commemorating Women in the United States: Remembering Women in Public Space

Despite the absolutist terms often applied to it, patriotism is pretty arbitrary. The location of your birth, which after all nobody has any say in, doesn't obligate anyone to automatically support whatever country, government, or national mythology might exist wherever they happen to be. Patriotism, in its best form, is a moral choice, and like any decision its integrity hinges on the critical thinking involved. In Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism, historian Ben Railton demonstrates just how arbitrary. Examining the varying forms that American patriotism can take, reminding us that patriotic words and deeds are more complex than they are often treated, Railton informatively argues that patriotism can be a challenge to the status quo. Applying your own experience, values, and ideals gradually reshapes your country's narrative about itself, especially if you're challenging its essential principles and myths, and questioning your own part in them.-- The Daily Beast Of Thee I Sing is a remarkably timely book that forces Americans to reckon with the true history of US patriotism. Analyzing the concept from the colonial period through the Age of Trump, Railton reveals how both the right and the left have used patriotism in vastly different ways to achieve radically different ends. From maintaining white-elite patriarchal power to fighting for human and Civil Rights, Of Thee I Sing proves that patriotism has always been, and always will be, an incredibly powerful tool in American politics.--Keri Leigh Merritt, Author of Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South Ben Railton offers an insightful approach into how U.S. patriotism has been contradictorily defined since the founding of the country. He astutely argues that celebratory patriotism, where the U.S. is a perfect country, has evolved along with critical patriotism, where citizens work towards creating a more perfect union, and that both definitions have often been at odds with each other. Railton references a wide variety of popular cultural artifacts to demonstrate these competing definitions and brings his significant analysis into 2020. Anyone interested in how these contested definitions of U.S. patriotism began and have evolved would benefit from reading this book.--Teresa Bergman, Professor of Communication at the University of the Pacific; author of Exhibiting Patriotism: Creating and Contesting Interpretations of American Historic Sites and Commemorating Women in the United States: Remembering Women in Public Space

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Ben Railton is Professor of English Studies and Coordinator of American Studies at Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts. He is the author of five previous books, most recently We the People: The 500-Year Battle over Who is American (also in the American Ways series). His public scholarly efforts also include the daily AmericanStudies blog, the monthly Considering History column for the Saturday Evening Post, and contributions to many other online conversations including HuffPost and We’re History.

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