We the People: The 500-Year Battle Over Who Is American (American Ways)

Product Description
"We the People." The Constitution begins with those deceptively simple words, but how do Americans define that "We"? In
We the People
, Ben Railton argues that throughout our history two competing yet interconnected concepts have battled to define our national identity and community: exclusionary and inclusive visions of who gets to be an American.From the earliest moments of European contact with indigenous peoples, through the Revolutionary period's debates on African American slavery, 19
th
century conflicts over Indian Removal, Mexican landowners, and Chinese immigrants, 20
th
century controversies around Filipino Americans and Japanese internment, and 21
st
century fears of Muslim Americans, time and again this defining battle has shaped our society and culture.Carefully exploring and critically examining those histories, and the key stories and figures they feature, is vital to understanding America—and to making sense of the Trump era, when the battle over who is an American can be found in every significant debate and moment.
Review
. . .a timely survey of conflicting answers to the question posed throughout US history: Who is an American? [Railton] first details the effects of the exclusionary approach on each group discussed, and then shows how individuals from each group have contributed to American culture. . . Highly Recommended. ―
CHOICE
In this accessible introduction, journalist and English professor Railton explores the dichotomy of inclusivity and exclusivity that has defined the American ethos since the country’s inception, highlighting some of this struggle’s villains and heroes over five centuries. He begins with insightful commentary on the “melting pot” metaphor; is it a vessel that accepts multiple cultures and melds them into an America built on diversity, or are those cultures poured into the pot to become homogenized and assimilated? Eight chapters follow, each devoted to a different moment of exclusionism in American history. He celebrates authors who used their voices for political ends, including novelist Ruiz de Burton (who in the 1880s drew on her own experience to raise awareness about the theft of land from Mexican-Americans), as well as activists, such as Toyosaburo Korematsu and Yuri Kochiyama, who were sent to Japanese internment camps during WWII and devoted their lives to fighting discrimination. This brief book gives only a surface analysis of some 500 years of history, but Railton effectively makes the material relevant to today, particularly in the final chapter on Muslims in America and the conclusion, which connects these historical episodes to current immigration policy and treatment of native people. ―
Publishers Weekly
In a period of renewed debates over who defines "We the People," B. Railton's concise and compelling survey is not only timely but illuminates often overlooked stories in the American experience. Spanning five centuries of clashes between exclusive and inclusive visions on our continent, Railton shows how the battle itself over who is considered an "American" has been a defining process in shaping our nation's history. -- Jeff Biggers, author of Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition
During this historical moment, the Trump years, I can imagine little more important than mobilizing the powerful, long forgotten or perhaps never-told narratives of American women and men who have fought for an inclusive nation. The stories--for me especially those of former slaves living in New England and those of long-ago Muslim Americans in unexpected locales like Montana and South Carolina--remind us of a part of American culture that challenges notions of exclusion and hate. Dr. Railton's book is an ever-so-welcome story of finding hope in lost historical context. -- Dr. Shannon Latkin Anderson, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Sociology, Roanoke College, Author of Immigration, Assimilation, and the Cultural Construction of Americ