Three times a year without fail when I was a kid - Labor Day, Independence Day, and Memorial Day - my dad would hang a large American flag from a portable wooden pole off of the wrought iron banister of our suburban front porch in a little town 1 hour north of New York City.
He did so quietly and without fanfare, seemingly oblivious to the fact that we lived on a dead-end road that saw few cars pass by on any given day, let alone holidays. I mentioned this to him in passing when I was older, and he agreed with a nod, but continued to hang the flag until the day he died of cancer in the bedroom he lived in with my mom for almost thirty years. I never did get a direct answer out of him regarding his relationship to "Old Glory. My dad kept his cards close to his chest, and wasn't much of a "rah rah" guy about anything organizational, though he wore the courage of his convictions in a million different ways through living a life of quiet devotion to family, close friends, a professional career, and a spiritual walk that remained until the end.
It is testament to Vermont-based historian Woden Teachout's new book Capture The Flag: A Political History of American Patriotism (Basic Books, 2009) that I begin with this story of my father and "Old Glory," for Teachout's wonderful new work is at once deeply personal and historically ambitious. A professor of graduate studies at Union Institute and University, Teachout seeks nothing less than to unpack the ways in which Americans' complex and evolving relationship to "Old Glory," the American flag, illuminates conflicting and deeply felt notions of patriotism itself.
Using synechdoche - a time-honored historical technique in which a historian uses a small moment to represent larger historical trends (think Bernard DeVoto's 1846: Year of Decision, for example) - Teachout selects eight moments in U.S. history and deftly unpacks them to show the reader how Americans debated (sometimes violently) "Old Glory's" meaning within larger discussions about patriotism itself. Her skill as a narrative historian is first rate - while the book exudes a nice blend of scholarly authority (her work is based on doctoral research), she never sacrifices accessibility. At her best, Teachout is a fine storyteller, able to paint a convincing picture of life among the "rowdy boys" who inhabited the 18th century New England wharfs, the fall of Fort Sumter, or life inside the early 20th century Ku Klux Klan.
Even more impressive, however, is her ability to graft these moments into larger historical debates about the meaning of patriotism in American life. Broadly speaking, Teachout identifies two kinds of patriotism in both the book's introduction and a helpful footnote:
The first [kind of patriotism] is a sentiment that privileges commitment to ideas and values, usually humanitarian, to a commitment over nation; the second is a sentiment that seeks to promote one's nation politically, socially, or economically within the context of other nations.
The first she refers to as "humanitarian" patriotism, the second, "nationalist" patriotism. And wisely, she doesn't take sides here, choosing instead to focus on the interplay between both within the context of 18th century revolutionary America (Flag of Resistance); the 1844 Philadelphia riots (Flag of Nativism); Fort Sumter's fall and the coming of the so-called "Civil War" (Flag of War); the 1896 McKinley presidential campaign (Flag of Capitalism); the KKK's early 20th century resurgence (Flag of Race); the mid-20th century civil rights movement (Flag of Equality); and the Vietnam War's Hard Hat Riots (Flag of Class). She ends with a passing nod to the Reagan years, and Barack Obama's 2008 election - still fresh in the minds of her readers.
In combining synechdoche, fine narrative, and scholarly analysis, Teachout manages to do something very few historians can do. In short, she brings a fresh eye to historical terrain we think we've already mapped, and she does so deftly, confidently, and concisely (the book clocks in at just over 200 pages). I read and absorbed Capture the Flag in three sittings, but felt infinitely wiser as a result of Teachout's gifted storytelling.
I have only two critical observations. First, the addition of images would greatly enhance the book's written analysis. When Teachout writes, for example, about the famous 1867 "First Vote" painting depicting Old Glory flying over the heads of newly freed slaves voting (in the context of the 20th century civil rights movement), readers would benefit from actually seeing the image. "Old Glory" images abound - why not leverage them in the book?
Secondly - and this is purely selfish on my part - I wanted more. Teachout deals with "Old Glory" and the so-called Reagan "Revolution" of the 1980s in a mere four pages. Certainly, Team Reagan's compelling televisual use of the American flag certainly demands its own chapter. And the women's rights effort is completely absent from Teachout's analysis - a curious omission, given the suffragettes' extensive use of Old Glory as a rallying symbol for their cause.
Criticisms aside, however, Teachout has crafted a thoughtful new book about the meaning of patriotism at a deeply important moment for the United States. "Secession talk" abounds in thirty states across the country. Here in Vermont, there are a growing number of us who have forsaken "Old Glory" and chosen, instead, to wear the Vermont independence flag - 13 white stars on a blue field embossed on a sea of green - to indicate our status as Vermont Patriots deeply disturbed by the policies of the United States Empire. As "Old Glory's" meanings continue to morph, Teachout's book stands as a powerful reminder of a flag that (once?) stood for what she calls a "shared political culture of liberty and justice," even as many Americans redefine what it means to be a "patriot" in this, a new century.
