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America First!: Its History, Culture, and Politics Paperback – September 6, 2016

by Bill Kauffman (Author), Gore Vidal (Foreword)

3.9 18 ratings

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America First! is a rarity among political books: first published in 1995, it remains more timely, relevant, and even urgent than ever. Lively and iconoclastic, it explores the rich heritage, the turbulent present, and the possible future of the political and cultural tendency known as "America First." Bill Kauffman, a columnist for the American Conservative, examines the nineteenth-century underpinnings and twentieth-century eruptions of American isolationism and nationalism, which are the fault lines along which the politics of the twenty-first century are cleaving. In a new preface and epilogue written especially for this reissue, he traces the evolution of America First sentiment over the past twenty years: from its near-eclipse in the war hysteria of the George W. Bush administration to its revival in 2016 with the populist campaigns of Donald Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders.

Print length

294 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Prometheus
Publication date

September 6, 2016
Dimensions

6.1 x 0.89 x 8.97 inches
ISBN-10

1633883094
ISBN-13

978-1633883093
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"PRAISE FOR THE ORIGINAL EDITION OF AMERICA FIRST!“Enjoyable and fascinating…dazzling…If you read only one political history book this year, here it is.” ? Booklist “Novel and important…often perceptive and nearly always provocative.” ?World Policy Journal“Kauffman and I are the original patriots… Kauffman is a romantic reactionary, a writer with an odd, energetic optimism.” ―Gore Vidal “Kauffman is an engaging and often amusing writer.” ―Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Washington Monthly“

From the Back Cover

Bill Kauffman has been described by the Washington Post as having the "pleasantly wicked touch of H. L. Mencken". In America First!: Its History, Culture, and Politics, he examines the nineteenth-century underpinnings and the political eruptions of twentieth-century American nationalism, which promises to be the fault line along which policies of the next century will emerge. Kauffman recounts a fascinating story of nativist American culture, beginning with the populism of Hannibal Hamlin Garland and Amos R. E. Pinchot, which was distinguished by its opposition to militarism, big government, and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few and by its promotion of the common man. Even after the rise of the New Deal, which broadly expanded the power of government, and the growth of the American Empire, the populist song continues to be sung by many in this country: they decry, even at the risk of being called xenophobes, isolationists, and crackpots, what they see as reckless immigration policies and unchecked global intervention. In this wide-ranging book encompassing literature, politics, and popular entertainment, Kauffman looks at the lives and activities of such prominent exponents of the America First philosophy as Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Sinclair Lewis, Edward Abbey, Gore Vidal, Senator J. William Fulbright, and Jack Kerouac. He describes the Hollywood of the 1930s and 1940s, and how the film industry was used as a propaganda machine to end isolationist sentiments and to dragoon Americans into World War II. Also discussed are the 1992 presidential campaigns of "populist" candidates Pat Buchanan, Jerry Brown, and Ross Perot and the possible emergence of a third Americanpolitical party.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Prometheus; Reprint edition (September 6, 2016)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1633883094
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1633883093
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 14.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.1 x 0.89 x 8.97 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,747,441 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #882 in Nationalism (Books)
- #3,253 in Political Conservatism & Liberalism
- #7,007 in History & Theory of Politics

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3.9 18 ratings

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3.9 out of 5

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Marcanthony Salvatini

There have been many "Trumps" throughout American history all focused on basic tenets of being an American.

Reviewed in the United States on November 6, 2016

Verified Purchase

Quite an interesting read. A movement started over 100 years ago, reads in part, like many points of the Trump platform. Trump seems to have struck a nerve that through this book the reader will come to recognize is not only quite old, but embedded in the fabric of what underlies core american beliefs.
The reaction to the present day planks of Trump have often been repeated throughout history. While Trump may not be the best representation of "America First," what seems to resonate today is what has resonated with "flyover america" for quite some time.
For me, it put into perspective that while there is a dislike for a candidate, the messaging has roots very, very deep in the culture of america, and the platform aligned against these beliefs is the modern version of the anti-american core value system.
Read it to gain a perspective of what is going on today, that is being denigrated by a focus on a somewhat polarizing character, but the underlying message is one oft repeated for over 100 years.

7 people found this helpful

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Steven L. Perry

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 7, 2017

good

Forgotten Chapters of History

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016

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I learned a lot reading this book. These are some of the forgotten chapters of US history.

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Efrem Sepulveda

Overview of American non-intreventionism

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2011

This 255-page book contains information on the rise of the non-interventionist movement in America that started in earnest at the time of the Spanish-American War in 1898 as well as continued history from that time. Midwestern populists who wanted to be left alone and advocated non-interference and free trade overseas is covered in the first chapter which included Hannibal Hamlin Garland and Amos Pinchot, two now forgotten men that wrote copiously about the culture that they grew up in and were provincials who beleived that their communities provided sufficient culture for themselves without the help of outsiders. William Sayoran and John Dos Passos were also mentioned as men who wanted America to keep to itself.

The book spend time in covering particular non-intervnetionalists who for one reason or another saw the its folly. They included former senator William Fulbright, author Gore Vidal, Arizona curmudgeon Edward Abbey, beat writer Jack Kerouac and socialite Alice Roosevelt Longworth, the daughter of Teddy Roosevelt.

In each case, they saw the dangers of omnipotent governemnt, the concept of largeness in general and the folly of going overseas to make things right in the world which was summed up in the dictum of John Quincy Adams that our government should not go overseas to seek monsters to destroy. Since this book was written in 1995, we have seen the bitter fruit of our nation making the world "safe for democracy" once again. Our treasury is exhausted, our military is fighting a pointless war that could last years and the moral fabric of society is fraying due to our constant involvement overseas. In short, the author wants us to "come home" and put our own house in order and heal our nation.

6 people found this helpful

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J.S.M.

Not reliable history.

Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2017

This book is inaccurate in the extreme. It only makes sense if you haven't actually seen the America First propaganda that was issued at the time. It whitewashes the anti-Semitism and other extremism associated with it.

One person found this helpful

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Grey

If only...

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2013

Verified Purchase

Everyone would read this book. You don't have to agree with everything but just think about it. Thinking is something we don't do enough of these days

2 people found this helpful

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Patrick P.

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2016

Verified Purchase

An eye-opener.

One person found this helpful

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GA Russell

America First!

Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2020

It's good, but it deals too much with the personalities of the politicians, and not enough with the political philosophy.

Helpful

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Peter L. Hurst

Invisible Republic?

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is a real curate's egg of a book. Written originally in the mid 1990s prior to the 1996 general election - but exhumed due to Trump's candidacy and, of course, explicit use of the term 'American First' itself in his presidential campaign in 2016 - this edition has an added coda to reflect upon last year's race (albeit written prior to the actual election itself.)

The best way to describe this book would be to say it is a mixed bag. It consists primarily of potted pen portraits of a succession of obscure characters who, to the author, embodied certain aspects of the 'America First' philosophy and creed. Finishing with a personal reflection upon the 2016 Presidential race. What of the philosophy itself? clearly the author sentimentalises the term and what it represents in an attempt to gloss over its history of association with xenophobia and anti-semitism. 'American First' clearly means many things to the author - nativism, localism and pacifism primarily - but he is so consistently vague and woolly in his descriptions of what the term actually represents that it basically becomes whatever he wants it to mean.

Kauffman's conception of what 'America First' means is filtered through the prism of Gore Vidal's conception of American history as Rome redux, a once proud republic now turned bloated empire. A romanticised, nostalgic, pacifist, nativist America before 'the fall' which is, of course, the European civil war of 1914-45 and the ensuing cold war lasting until 1989. Take Eisenhower's criticism of the 'military-industrial complex,' add a dollop of Vidal's conception of America as Rome redux, sprinkle in liberally the populist notion that the American body politic has one body but with two heads, stir in the Jeffersonian notion that America should be an agrarian idyll and, finally, mix in the libertarian idea that 'Washington' is a behemoth willing to trample over local traditions and mores. This American primordial soup is Kauffman's 'America First.' Not so much a political program as a way of viewing the world through red, white and blue spectacles.

The emphasis Kauffman gives to the America First credo is that it is primarily an anti-war philosophy and not fundamentally a xenophobic one. All other political considerations are considered of second-rank importance to the fundamental matter of the importance of isolationism, which is seen as America's default setting. Kauffman's view is unreservedly utopian and unrealistic, the idea that America could ever live in splendid isolation is arrant nonsense but his idealism is admirable (if a little naive) and he writes wonderfully well. As a book of history however this is extremely poor and I think he glosses over the anti-semitism and xenophobia, of the period in the 1930s in particular, too much to be taken seriously as a historian but as a writer Kauffman, at times, sparkles. A book of interest as a curiosity in curious times.

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