Naively, I bought this book expecting a scholarly analysis of national identity. Should you be under the same misapprehension look for another volume.
About the first third of the book is devoted to early American history as the author sees it. Often it is wrong, repetitive, contradictory and one dimensional. You would be better off with any of Daniel Boorstin's books. As far as analysis is concerned, there is little, if any. Analysis consists of the author positing his view and then quoting at length, for paragraphs and sometime pages, everyone who agrees with him. No contradicting views are discussed; perhaps there are none though I doubt it.
But these are minor nitpicks compared to the polemic the author is pitching. I am rather elderly and always thought of myself as an American. It seems I was mistaken. According to the author you cannot be an American without viewing yourself as part of "the Anglo-Protestant culture". The author at times is confused himself as to what type of Protestantism he is referring to, at various times referring to Dissenting Protestantism, Reformation Protestantism and various others but unfortunately none of that saves me since I am not a Protestant.
It is not enough to believe in the American Creed: "ideals of the essential dignity of the individual human being, of the fundamental equality of all men, and of certain inalienable rights to freedom, justice and a fair opportunity". This is because anyone - Germans, Russians, Chinese, Jamaicans - can believe in this Creed. And what if the whole world believes in it? Then we are lost - everyone will seem like an American, and this is why we need Anglo-Protestant culture. But ye of different faiths do not despair - "In this respect [American] Catholicism does not differ from [American] Judaism or other religions. 'American religion, whatever its formal sectarian designation, is decidedly Protestant.' " (page 98) This was another thing I had never realized until reading this book.
Huntington starts the book by stating he is writing as a patriot. However, he writes as a nationalist and not a patriot. The best distinction between the two was written by George Orwell so I'll quote it in full. "Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism. Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged, but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved. By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality." In my opinion these two concepts are as much confused in culture as are righteousness and self-righteousness in religion.
Huntington's full bodied nationalism is the underlying basis for his principal thesis that Mexicans are bad and must be kept out at all costs because unlike other immigrants now or in the past they pose a singular threat to America's national identity. According to the author there are various reasons for this. Primarily there are too many of them, they don't assimilate, they live in a nation abutting the United States and the United States has land which once belong to Mexicans and Mexican immigrants in this country may want to take those lands back. (I am not making this up - see page 230). Some Mexicans are OK though "Unquestionably, a most significant manifestation of assimilation for Hispanic immigrants is conversion to evangelical Protestantism." (page 241) So there it is again Anglo-Protestant (even for Mexicans) = good, everyone else = bad.
And on it goes. Here is the last quote I will use to illustrate small-mindedness " Lionel Sosa ends his book 'The Americano Dream' . . . with the words 'The Americano dream? It exists, it is realistic, and it is there for all to share". This is Huntington's reply "He is wrong. There is no Americano dream. There is only the American dream. There is only the American dream created by an Anglo-Protestant society. Mexican-Americans will share in that dream and in that society only if they dream in English." (page 256).
Hence my review of this skewed, misguided, mean-spirited, biased, non-fact based book. Huntington may have been viewed as a scholar at some point in his life, but this, his last work, is not a scholarly product. It is merely pathetic - in both senses of the word.
At the beginning I wrote that this book fails as a scholarly analysis of national identity. However, it does provide the blueprint for and the thin veneer of superficial rationality for the nativist reaction to immigration being used by Breitbart and its ilk to justify their views. So if you want to see what other radical and racist arguments may be in store, this book may give you a preview.
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Simon E.
Eine berechtigte Frage, die sich jeder Mensch / jedes Land / jede Nation / jeder Staat stellen muss.
Reviewed in Germany on July 20, 2015
