In his seminal work The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel
Huntington argued provocatively and presciently that with the end of the cold war,
"civilizations" were replacing ideologies as the new fault lines in
international politics. His astute analysis has proven correct. Now Professor Huntington
turns his attention from international affairs to our domestic cultural rifts as he
examines the impact other civilizations and their values are having on our own country.
America was founded by British settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including
the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect
for law. The waves of immigrants that later came to the United States gradually accepted
these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently,
however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers
of primarily Hispanic immigrants, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of
citizenship, and the "denationalization" of American elites.
September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism and a renewal of American identity.
But already there are signs that this revival is fading, even though in the post-September
11 world, Americans face unprecedented challenges to our security. Who Are We? shows the
need for us to reassert the core values that make us Americans. Nothing less than our
national identity is at stake. Once again Samuel Huntington has written an important book
that is certain to provoke a lively debate and to shape our national conversation about
who we are.
In The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (1998), Huntington
(international and area studies, Harvard U.) argued that civilizations were replacing
ideologies in post-Cold War politics. Pointing out that how Americans define themselves
determines our role in the world (national/imperial/cosmopolitan), he offers a timely
analysis of the historical components of US identity, challenges to it (e.g., the trend
toward a bicultural nation), and the resurgence of religion nationally and globally.
Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
428 pages, Paperback