Research Catalog

Title

Myth America : historians take on the biggest legends and lies about our past / edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer.

Publication

• New York : Basic Books, 2022.
• ©2022

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

• Kruse, Kevin Michael, 1972-
• Zelizer, Julian E.

Description

viii, 390 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

"The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Inaccurate interpretations and outright misrepresentations of the past--cultivated within and promoted by the conservative movement and right-wing media over the last several decades-hold sway among large numbers of Americans, damaging our public discourse. In Myth America, historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of historians to provide textured analysis that explains what we get wrong about the past. Drawing on their immense knowledge of scholarship and their own primary research, these contributors provide correctives to the ways conservatives distort history to serve the needs of their anti-democratic agenda. For instance: Erika Lee shows how, far from posing a relentless threat to America, immigrants have long been recruited and even coerced to come to the United States. Joshua Zeitz traces how the welfare programs of the Great Society, criticized by the right as wasteful failures, have provided millions of Americans with food security, health care, and education. Carol Anderson uncovers how racism and anxiety over the nation's changing demographics, not voter fraud, are motivating Republicans' assault on voting rights. Elizabeth Hinton reveals that, rather than curbing crime, patrolling low-income communities with outside police forces has historically intensified violence and made everyone less safe. Taken together, the essays unveil how corporate interests and right-wing politicians use bad history to fan the flames of white resentment and unravel America's social safety net. Replacing myths with research and reality, Myth America is essential reading amid today's heated debates about our nation's past"--

Alternative Title

Historians take on the biggest legends and lies about our past

Subject

• Disinformation
• Misinformation
• Historiography
• United States > History > Errors, inventions, etc
• United States > Historiography
• United States

Genre/Form

• History.
• Essays.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-367) and index.

Contents

Introduction / Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer -- American exceptionalism / David A. Bell -- Founding myths / Akhil Reed Amar -- Vanishing Indians / Ari Kelman -- Immigration / Erika Lee -- America first / Sarah Churchwell -- The United States is an empire / Daniel Immerwahr -- The border / Geraldo Cadava -- American socialism / Michael Kazin -- The magic of the marketplace / Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway -- The New Deal / Eric Rauchway -- Confederate monuments / Karen L. Cox -- The Southern strategy / Kevin M. Kruse -- The good protest / Glenda Gilmore -- White backlash / Lawrence B. Glickman -- The Great Society / Joshua Zeitz -- Police violence / Elizabeth Hinton -- Insurrection / Kathleen Belew -- Family values feminism / Natalia Mehlman Petrzela -- Reagan revolution / Julian E. Zelizer -- Voter fraud / Carol Anderson.

Call Number

JFE 23-1551

ISBN

• 9781541601390
• 1541601394
• 9781541601406 (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2022001566

OCLC

1296943848

Title

Myth America : historians take on the biggest legends and lies about our past / edited by Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer.

Publisher

New York : Basic Books, 2022.

Copyright Date

©2022

Edition

First edition.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 313-367) and index.

Local Note

AUTH: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.

Added Author

Kruse, Kevin Michael, 1972- editor.

Zelizer, Julian E., editor.

Research Call Number

JFE 23-1551