A Great Disorder

Longlisted for the 2024 National Book Award in Nonfiction SweepingA new way to make sense not only of the past, but of the contemporary culture wars. New York Times Book Review A provocative culmination of Slotkins field-defining arguments on the place of violence in creating America. Kathleen Belew Brisk, bold, and thought-provoking. Daniel Lazare, Arts Fuse [An] exciting and detailed new decoder ring of a bookWhile it is usually hyperbolic to claim that a book will change your life, this one may well have a permanent effect on how you consume and think about American political news. Tom Zoellner, Los Angeles Review of Books Red America and Blue America are so divided they could be two different countries, with wildly diverging views of why government exists and who counts as American. Their ideologies are grounded in different versions of American history, endorsing irreconcilable visions of patriotism and national identity. A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of todays culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of Americas foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Richard Slotkin identifies five key narratives that have shaped our conception of what it means to be American: the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (with dueling views of it as Liberation or the Lost Cause), and the Good War. Today, Slotkin argues, Trump and his MAGA followers play up a frontier-inspired hostility to the federal government and rally around Confederate symbols to champion a racially exclusive definition of American nationality; meanwhile, Blue America takes its cue from the protest movements of the 1960s, envisioning a limitlessly pluralistic country in which the federal government is the ultimate enforcer of rights and opportunities. With these opposing perspectives, American historyand the foundations of our democracyhas become a battleground. It remains to be seen which vision will prevail.