In his first book, Lind explores the three American “nations” in our history. He shows how the United States has slowly evolved to accept more and more people as Americans. Lind calls for a new and cohesive liberal nationalism to replace the fractured multicultural America.
Are we now, or have we ever been, a nation? As this century comes to a close, debates over immigration policy, racial preferences, and multiculturalism challenge the consensus that formerly grounded our national culture. The question of our national identity is as urgent as it has ever been in our history. Is our society disintegrating into a collection of separate ethnic enclaves, or is there a way that we can forge a coherent, unified identity as we enter the 21st century?
In this “marvelously written, wide-ranging and thought-provoking”* book, Michael Lind provides a comprehensive revisionist view of the American past and offers a concrete proposal for nation-building reforms to strengthen the American future. He shows that the forces of nationalism and the ideal of a trans-racial melting pot need not be in conflict with each other, and he provides a practical agenda for a liberal nationalist revolution that would combine a new color-blind liberalism in civil rights with practical measures for reducing class-based barriers to racial integration.
A stimulating critique of every kind of orthodox opinion as well as a vision of a new “Trans-American” majority, “The Next American Nation” may forever change the way we think and talk about American identity.
