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Behold, America
Behold, America: The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream" | Sarah Churchwell
22 posts | 4 read | 6 to read
The unknown history of two ideas crucial to the struggle over what America stands for In Behold, America, Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of twentieth-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. It follows the stories of two phrases--the "American dream" and "America First"--that once embodied opposing visions for America. Starting as a Republican motto before becoming a hugely influential isolationist slogan during World War I, America First was always closely linked with authoritarianism and white supremacy. The American dream, meanwhile, initially represented a broad vision of democratic and economic equality. Churchwell traces these notions through the 1920s boom, the Depression, and the rise of fascism at home and abroad, laying bare the persistent appeal of demagoguery in America and showing us how it was resisted. At a time when many ask what America's future holds, Behold, America is a revelatory, unvarnished portrait of where we have been.
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek

Freedom without responsibility means anarchy. --Dorothy Thompson

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keithmalek
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keithmalek

Broken promises may gradually defeat a civilization, but it is only when it has no promises to offer that it dies.

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keithmalek
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(Continued)...in a short period of time.

This was from an editorial written in the Lis Angeles Times in 1938.

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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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keithmalek
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teainthelibrary
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Yikes.

32 likes2 stack adds
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teainthelibrary
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“Loaded phrases slamming into each other with sufficient force could detonate into real violence; slogans are not mere words when they create political realities.“

Behold, America covers the history of the terms 'America First' and the 'American Dream' and how they often encourage toxic patriotism and violence and suppression against people deemed 'un-American'.

I thought this quote was particularly timely and relevant.

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bookwrm526
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Pickpick

I picked this book up after I heard the author on a podcast, and holy CATS is it fascinating and impactful (and horrifying and depressing, but still). I really recommend it if you‘ve recently asked yourself “how did we get here” in regards to the current political climate.

Readergrrl I‘d like to read this, but I‘m a little afraid that it might put me right over the deep end! I‘m just distraught over the path we are taking! 5y
bookwrm526 @Readergrrl It certainly made me get all in my feels, but I actually found it helpful in almost as many ways as I found it scary 5y
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charl08
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As Dorothy Thompson warned...

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charl08
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In five years, the World noted, the Klan had grown from thirty-four members to almost 500,000 nationwide .... the Klan was, to paraphrase later historians, America's most successful racist pyramid scheme.

Scary stuff.

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charl08
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It was astonishing, but 'the voters saw him, heard him and chose him'.

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charl08
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1915!

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charl08
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I loved her last book about F Scott Fitzgerald and the history in The Great Gatsby, so looking forward to this one.