Making Patriots [Hardcover]

Walter Berns (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226044378 | ISBN-13: 978-0226044378 | Publication Date: May 30, 2001 | Edition: 1

Although Samuel Johnson once remarked that "patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels," over the course of the history of the United States we have seen our share of heroes: patriots who have willingly put their lives at risk for this country and, especially, its principles. And this is even more remarkable given that the United States is a country founded on the principles of equality and democracy that encourage individuality and autonomy far more readily than public spiritedness and self-sacrifice.

Walter Berns's Making Patriots is a pithy and provocative essay on precisely this paradox. How is patriotism inculcated in a system that, some argue, is founded on self-interest? Expertly and intelligibly guiding the reader through the history and philosophy of patriotism in a republic, from the ancient Greeks through contemporary life, Berns considers the unique nature of patriotism in the United States and its precarious state. And he argues that while both public education and the influence of religion once helped to foster a public-minded citizenry, the very idea of patriotism is currently under attack.

Berns finds the best answers to his questions in the thought and words of Abraham Lincoln, who understood perhaps better than anyone what the principles of democracy meant and what price adhering to them may exact. The graves at Arlington and Gettysburg and Omaha Beach in Normandy bear witness to the fact that self-interested individuals can become patriots, and Making Patriots is a compelling exploration of how this was done and how it might be again.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Walter Berns, an eminent constitutional scholar, plumbs the mysteries and paradoxes of American patriotism in this slim volume. How is it, he asks, that Americans can pursue their individual liberties and at the same time demonstrate public spirit? "Patriotism means love of country and implies a readiness to sacrifice for it, to fight for it, perhaps even to give one's life for it," writes Berns. "Why, especially, should Americans be willing to do this? In theory, this nation began with self-interested men, by nature private men, men naturally endowed not with duties or obligations but with certain unalienable rights, the private rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that each defines for himself."

The short answer is that Americans dedicate themselves to universal principles enumerated in the Declaration of Independence and other founding documents. This is, at bottom, a book on why Americans love their country. But it does not drip with star-spangled sentiment. Rather, it is almost wholly intellectual. Berns might have included more storytelling and less analysis on these pages. His narrative is occasionally character-driven--Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass make significant appearances--but Berns is primarily interested in their ideas. Making Patriots has the virtue of being both succinct and direct, and it addresses a set of thorny problems in clear language. Berns offers smart chapters on how patriotism interacts with religious devotion and racial identity, plus commentary on how patriotism is learned ("No one is born loving his country; such love is not natural, but has to be somehow taught or acquired"). Making Patriots may be read quickly, even as its insights are deep. Readers will find themselves returning to the book again and again, long after they thought they were done with it. --John J. Miller

From Publishers Weekly

In 1932, theologian and political philosopher Reinhold Niebuhr observed the ambiguous nature of patriotism as a virtue. Patriotism, he argued, requires an individual's self-sacrifice to the self-interest of a particular group and, as such, often results in horrific evils and conflicts. Berns (Freedom, Virtue, and the First Amendment), professor emeritus at Georgetown and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, acknowledges that the idea of patriotism in 21st-century America is indeed a paradoxical one. After all, in a country that elevates the self, to be a patriot requires one to give up one's self for something greater, most notably one's country. In his brief survey, Berns explores the meaning of patriotism in ancient times in Sparta, the changing idea of patriotism after the establishment of Christianity (when loyalties to church and state became divided) and the emergence of the American flag as the symbol of a republic to which Americans pledge their allegiance. He asserts that our contemporary educational system does not succeed in educating young people in the ways of patriotism and urges schools to rethink their ways of inculcating love of country in students. Finally, he elevates Lincoln to ""patriotism's poet," for the 16th president "promoted love of country, reminding us that as citizens we are bound to each other... by a cause we hold in common." Unfortunately, Berns's book offers no clear definition of patriotism, though his view of it appears narrow and sentimental. Although plenty of people will disagree with him, Berns comes to no startling new conclusions about patriotism; he merely recycles old ideas that will appeal to a limited readership.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 164 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (May 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226044378
• ISBN-13: 978-0226044378
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,853,508 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely NOT the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel, July 9, 2002

By 

Steven Fantina (Phillipsburg, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Patriots (Hardcover)

In his short collection of essays, Walter Berns explores the history of patriotism and identifies why it has achieved such a unique plateau here in the United States. Occasionally, bordering on the esoteric due to its advanced discussion of ancient Sparta and more-than-passing mentions of some other abstruse historical topics, certain sections of the treatise may overwhelm some readers. Still those who must plod through the first few chapters will be handsomely rewarded with the book's later essays. The testimonials to Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas alone make it a beneficial read. In these two sections, Bern's ideas illuminate and his prose soars. Of our 16th president he rhapsodically ponders, "what Lincoln did at Gettysburg was to create new mystic chords, stretching from a new battlefield to new graves, to our hearts and hearthstones, all over this broad land, South as well as North, reminding us of the cause written in our book, the Declaration of Independence."

Analyzing Frederick Douglas' life and the impact he left behind, Mr. Berns offers some notions that defy longstanding, putative preconceptions. Mr. Douglas, himself rattles the established elite thinking when he is quoted as saying, "the federal Government was never in its essence anything but anti-slavery...If in its origin, slavery had any relation to the government, it was only as the scaffolding to the magnificent structure, to be removed as soon as the building was completed." Mr. Berns may not employ such majestic imagery but is nearly as profound when he deftly delves into present day race relations. Contrasting today`s military with modern college life, he challengingly notes that "enlisted men--blacks and whites--live in the same barracks, eat in the same mess halls, and although not required, frequently at the same table--something rarely encountered in universities." Interestingly, interracial harmony is found in the one environment where everyone is treated as an individual, while the debatably well intentioned "diversity" dictates of the other often lead to an unspoken, rigid separatism.

The final chapter, "The Patriot's Flag" presents genuinely stimulating insights on the First Amendment--so skillfully abused over the past fifty years. The very term "speech" has somehow been contorted into meaning a hodgepodge of nonverbal activities. Mr. Berns thoroughly appraises the Supreme Court's outrageous decision legalizing flag burning and successfully shows the sophistry of its ruling. Supporters of this spurious ruling may bristle when he writes "the First Amendment protects freedom of speech not expression, and whereas all speech may be expression, not all expression is speech" because his reasoning is as sublime as it is succinct. He suggests that spray painting graffiti on the Lincoln Memorial is not likely to be allowed under a torturous stretch of freedom of speech and wisely concludes, "there is something about the memorial that forbids its desecration, and because it, too causes us to remember, the same ought to be true of the flag."

At times his arguments become a trifle too abstract and the book's pace may hesitate occasionally, but several nuggets of wisdom can be gleaned from these pages. It sets forth many concepts that every Americans should contemplate, and it summons us all to evaluate whether or not we are taking our American birthright for granted.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Dose of What We Need as a Nation, September 6, 2001

By 

Donald L. Linn "reader53" (Southbury, CT) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Patriots (Hardcover)

This small book reminds me so clearly of my public education in the 1950's and '60's when God and country were so seamlessly integrated into the curricula of our schools that it would have been unnatural to think otherwise (though how quickly, it seems, those thoughts did turn in the mid-to-late '60's). Dr. Berns' thoughtful essay outlines clearly and persuasivley the case for reintegrating patriotism (not jingoism) back into American society and education. Required reading, filled with wonderful anecdotes, quotes and references.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Patriotism and Internationalism May be Incompatible, December 26, 2009

By 

William C. Greene "Common Knowledge and Commo... (New Hampshire) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Making Patriots (Paperback)

There are some excellent parts to this book--primarily those related to free speech and the normal trappings of America's patriotic heritage. The term "patriotism," to connote love of country, loyalty, and the willingness to advance a common good, has almost always been a constructive force in any nation's growth and stability. Consequently it is a subject well worth out study and our best efforts to keep it in place as a constructive force.

"Patriotism" should not be denigrated just because it has on occasion been twisted into extreme forms of nationalism that can be evil, as in the extreme case of Hitler's Germany. Nor should it be used to justify expansionism. But practiced as support of one's country and as supportive compassion for fellow citizens, it is an essential formative asset to a nation's good character

The reviewer who gave the book one star makes some good points but does seem obsessed with the erroneous belief that patriotic Republicans and industrialists got us into the two World Wars and Vietnam under the guise of patriotism--and that therefore patriotism is bad: "Neo-cons and their flunkies . . . do not like reviews like this because they strip away the myths that are their bread and butter. (Heaven only knows what they would do without their foundations and corporate-funded academic chairs.) As they seek at virtually all costs to delude Americans into fighting for Mom and apple pie . . . "

That reviewer obviously,(and delibeartely?) misses the huge point that it was 5 Democratic presidents that mobilized the nation for all such foreign adventures--Wilson, FDR, JFK, Johnson and Truman. And he also curiously misses the point that the major Foundations and academic chairs in academia are all anti-Republican, pro Democratic, and represent the fanatic liberal Left's love of internationalism and who are most enthralled with World Organizations and International activities. The "isolationmists" who opposed entry into the two World Wars were Republicans-conservatives.

And as for profit motive, America's industries were more interested in supplying foreign combatants with goods, than entering the Wars. It was primarily Wilsons intellectual dream of world government and "making the world safe for democracy" that motivated his ill-advised actions. If Wilson had been motivated by true patriotism he would have spared his countrymen the agony of the War!

Patriotism as a love for one's country and its established foundations has little to do with internationalism. The Monroe Doctrine that dictated no foreign entanglements prevailed for 140 years before the Princeton liberal intellectual Woodrow Wilson got millions of our people killed and entangled us in world organizations. Our huge national debt, up to the late 1960's in the time of Johnson's "Great Society" programs, was almost exclusively caused by these foreign engagements. Adding to the burden all Americans must share by running huge deficits can not be called a patriotic action.

The chief criticism of Bern's book should be simply that he dragged in our need to fight in these foreign conflicts as somehow related to patriotism. I suppose the fact that Americans were able to be led to such sacrifice was dependent on their patriotism, but the fault lay not in patriotism itself, but the Democratic leaders who used it to manipulate us into needless sacrifices in the hunt for their internationalist fantasies.

In short, a good patriot might fight fiercely for Mom's apple pie, a balanced budget, and good schools, but strongly COMMON GENIUS: Guts, Grit, and Common Sense: How Ordinary People Create Prosperous Societies and How Intellectuals Make Them Collapsedesist from interfering in other nation's squabbles!