The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society Revised and Enlarged Edition

by Arthur Meier Schlesinger (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0393318548

ISBN-10: 0393318540

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The New York Times bestseller that reminded us what it means to be an American is more timely than ever in this updated and enlarged edition, including "Schlesinger's Syllabus," an annotated reading list of core books on the American experience.

The classic image of the American nation ― a melting pot in which differences of race, wealth, religion, and nationality are submerged in democracy ― is being replaced by an orthodoxy that celebrates difference and abandons assimilation. While this upsurge in ethnic awareness has had many healthy consequences in a nation shamed by a history of prejudice, the cult of ethnicity, if pressed too far, threatens to fragment American society to a dangerous degree. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in history and adviser to the Kennedy and other administrations, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is uniquely positioned to wave the caution flag in the race to a politics of identity. Using a broader canvas in this updated and expanded edition, he examines the international dimension and the lessons of one polyglot country after another tearing itself apart or on the brink of doing so: among them the former Yugoslavia, Nigeria, even Canada. Closer to home, he finds troubling new evidence that multiculturalism gone awry here in the United States threatens to do the same. "One of the most devastating and articulate attacks on multiculturalism yet to appear."―Wall Street Journal "A brilliant book . . . we owe Arthur Schlesinger a great debt of gratitude."―C. Vann Woodward, New Republic

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Editorial Reviews

Review

A brilliant book . . . we owe Arthur Schlesinger a great debt of gratitude. -- C. Vann Woodward, New Republic

For those choking on the fumes of guilt-inspired multi-culturalism...Norton's new edition of this Schlesinger classic--first published in 1992, and newly revised--is a swig of fresh air. -- Seattle Weekly, Mark Worth, 3 December 1998

One of the most devastating and articulate attacks on multiculturalism yet to appear. -- Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Arthur M. Schlesinger (1917 - 2007) was a historian who served as special assistant to President John F. Kennedy. Among his many works are the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Age of Jackson and A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House.

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Revised and Enlarged edition (September 17, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393318540
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393318548
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.3 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #249,970 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #94 in Demography Studies
- #210 in Political History (Books)
- #402 in Anthropology (Books)

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Robert N. Britcher

An unfortunate prophecy

Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2019

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The Disuniting of America:

I have just read the 1998 edition. Mr. Schlesinger has written a serious, nuanced set of essays about our multicultural society. Although the book is greater than the sum of related of essays: they were not published separately. The common theme is expressed in the Forward: "The more people feel themselves adrift ... the more they crave a politics of identity."

Mr. Schlesinger is no enemy of multiple cultures. In 1947, Schlesinger, together with former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Minneapolis mayor and future Senator and Vice President Hubert Humphrey, economist and longtime friend John Kenneth Galbraith, and Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, founded Americans for Democratic Action. He favors diversity, which may confuse some readers, as his thesis is not to eliminate it, but to be wary of its stridency.

He favors a single America, "governed together ... instilled by shared history, values, and language." The book is punctuated with stories and writings of 19th and 20th Century writers. (One of the more interesting features of the book is the Appendix, in which Mr. Schlesinger lists and summarizes a (baker's) dozen works that epitomize America, from "The Federalist," "Democracy in America," to "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and Henry Adams "Education," among others.

He cannot abide the erasure of history. "For better or for worse, American history has been shaped more than anything else by British tradition and culture. To deny this perhaps lamentable but hardly disputable fact would be to falsify history." "The purpose of history is to promote not group self-esteem, but understanding of the world." He would not favor the destruction of monuments, now so prevalent, as it is in and has been recently in Iraq.

Mr. Schlesinger traces much of the enthusiasm for multicultural extremism to the academic world, who, on the whole, define what we are taught and how -- and beyond. "The University of Pennsylvania gives blacks - 6 percent of the enrollment - their own yearbook." (His quote from Reinhold Niebuhr is resonant: "The chief source of man's inhumanity to man seems to be the tribal limits of his sense of obligation to other men." Today, many would dismiss this statement because it uses only the male personal pronoun, as tribalism has grown steadily worse since the author wrote it.) Ironically, the assault on our history is being led by the "analytical weapons" developed in the West."

This book is easy to read and thought-provoking. It is a prophecy of worse to come. It was written over twenty years ago. It has come.

13 people found this helpful

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Hans Bleeker

Written in 1991 it is as current now as then, maybe more so!

Reviewed in the United States on September 8, 2020

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A great read well worth the time. The idea of multiculturalism should be put to rest. The melting pot should be rekindled.

4 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Good Reading for Our Present Day

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2018

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E. pluribus unum: one out of many. This was the vision of our country from the very beginning. What happened? This book goes into detail of the history and gives a 1998 view of the problem. Too bad we haven't taken his comments to heart over the last 20 years. Yes, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant males never seemed to get the message and have a lot of work to do to become accepting of the multicultural of the current United States. We are all American's or strive to be one. Emphasis on our differences is good for a historical perspective but doesn't help us be American's today. This book is a great read! Go ahead, buy it! If you are liberal, conservative, black, Hispanic, American you could see yourself in these pages and maybe get a better perspective on E. pluribus unum: one out of many.

2 people found this helpful

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Steve

A Classic

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2020

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This book is as relevant now (2020) as ever. A deeply thought-out approach to multiculturalism. It both appreciates and respects cultural differences while recognizing the need for something more in order for a multicultural society to thrive.

Schlesinger also articulates the pervasive identitarianism and separatist ideologies which continue to plague American universities.

You won't be disappointed in this revealing and rational approach to the common good.

2 people found this helpful

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Samuel

Identity politics today and 30 years ago

Reviewed in the United States on June 4, 2019

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American society divided by racial tribes. Clarence Thomas " people have to find another common ground in this country besides race". 30 years later things haven't changed much, our society is becoming very much like Austria Hungary before World War 1. A coldrun of racial and ethnic resentment boiling just below the surface. Outside forces are also more at work today, a world economy where more and more Western workers must compete against those in Asia who will work for little adding to political instability , hence Brexit and the rise of Donald Trump. Schlesinger's book is precient, it describes American society 30 years ago and today.

3 people found this helpful

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Susan D.

Prescient About Identity Politics

Reviewed in the United States on December 10, 2020

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Although first published in 1992 and updated in 1995, ideas presented here remain current. A must read.

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Amazon Customer

Thank God it’s still available.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 28, 2021

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Given the current development in the so called First World - this should be made mandatory lecture.

Joshua

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2016

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very good book would recommend and came on time

William Podmore

Useful study

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 16, 2011

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This is a brilliant essay on multiculturalism. Schlesinger points out that "a common language is a necessary bond of national cohesion." So we should do everything possible to ensure that those who live here in Britain can speak English.

We need to have a common culture, in our single society, of one nation. We should defend British working class culture, which is the positive aspect of our country's history, while rejecting the bourgeoisie's imperial, reactionary culture. Schlesinger writes, "Belief in one's own culture does not require disdain for other cultures." This is like self-respect - respecting oneself does not mean disrespect for other people.

4 people found this helpful

Kindle Customer

Not Politically Correct, Thank God

Reviewed in Canada on May 28, 2017

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The title says it all. Writing about the perils of identity politics, Schlesinger is optimistic: surely Americans will not allow the manifest irrationalities of identity politics to balkanize America. Surely multiculturalism and political correctness are no threat to American democracy. But he tried to warn us anyway; his unease repeats on every page.
I wish I could share his optimism. But since 1999, when this book was published, the new tribalism has infected American politics to the point where it doesn't take much imagination to see the country breaking apart. I hope I am wrong. The world needs a healthy United States, and I say this as a near outsider (that's a joke, son). As a Canadian, and an obsessive student of American history, I see the same forces emerging in my country, though I don't believe that matters have gone quite as far up here.
There is small comfort in that, however. Canadians have frequently observed that what happens in the United States happens here ten years later. Besides, if you want my opinion (call out if you don't), identity politics are what you get when fascism learns decent table manners and how to dress well.
Highly recommended.

alberto

Un libro che fa pensare

Reviewed in Italy on May 26, 2016

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Centra in maniera precisa e convincente un'America, ma si può facilmente includere anche l'Europa, in cui una sinistra che non ha più la missione di difendere i lavoratori dai soprusi dei datori di lavoro, si trova a corto di idee e di ideali.
Ecco quindi che, in assenza di vittime (lavoratori) da difendere, ne cerca, anzi ne crea altre: le minoranze etniche, le minoranze con tendenze sessuali non tradizionali, persino le donne in genere eccetera. Tutte queste categorie di "vittime" sarebbero perseguitate da una maggioranza di l maschi bianchi benestanti e contro questa maggioranza vanno protette. Ne deriva l'esigenza di un astruso linguaggio politically correct per non offendere le minoranze vittimizzate. Ne deriva il tentativo di riscrivere la storia, anche senza rispettare la verità dei fatti, pur di dare alle minoranze qualcosa di cui essere fieri. E tante altre conseguenze deleterie per la società americana, fra cui prima di tutte, la più deleteria, è la divisione della popolazione in gruppi conflittuali.

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