American Patriotism
An Online Anthology from the University of Chicago Press

Patriotism has almost as many faces in America as there are Americans. For some, patriotism means unswerving support and devotion to our flag, our elected officials, our men and women in uniform. For others, patriotism means criticizing politicians when they take America in the wrong direction, protesting in the streets—sometimes even burning the flag. Patriotism also has complex ties to citizenship, race, and nationalism, as well as to the ways in which we remember our wars and the people who fought in them.

You can explore all these diverse aspects of American patriotism in this online anthology from the University of Chicago Press, including a number of free features and excerpts from our books on American patriotism, as well as links to related books in a variety of subject areas.


Readings Patriotism, Politics, and Democracy in America Citizenship, Race, and Nationalism War and Remembrance Dissent, Criticism, and Protest


Online Readings

"The Patriot's Flag" by Walter Berns

* What does the flag symbolize to a patriotic American? Is desecrating the flag an act of free speech or a crime against everything America stands for? Find out in this excerpt from Making Patriots.

"Photographs from Home Front: American Flags from Across the United States" by Peter Elliott

* After the horrendous events of September 2001, photographer Peter Elliott loaded his cameras and some clothes into his car and began a cross-country journey, looking for the flag. You can share his encounters with spontaneous demonstrations of flag-waving patriotism across the nation in these four sample photographs.

"Cosmopolitan Patriots and Cosmic Patriotism" by Jonathan M. Hansen

* Sometimes being patriotic means questioning what America's leaders are up to, and opposing them if they're steering an undemocratic course. You can read about Progressive-era dissenting patriots in this excerpt from The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890-1920, then read an interview with the author about the lessons the cosmopolitan patriots have to teach us about contemporary liberal patriotism.

"Untold Patriotism" by Eric L. Muller

* During World War II the U.S. sent more than 100,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. Some internees later received draft notices. Some entered the military, but others resisted the draft, insisting on full rights as citizens before the responsibilities of citizenship. How can you be patriotic when your country has questioned your loyalty? Find out in this excerpt from Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II.

"An America War Experience" by James Tatum

* Americans remember the Vietnam War; Vietnamese commemorate the America War. Compare memorials dedicated to the war in both countries in this eye-opening excerpt from The Mourner's Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam.

"On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life" and "Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being" by Alexis de Tocqueville

* One of the keenest observers of what makes America great was not an American at all, but a Frenchman. Share Alexis de Tocqueville's timeless insights into the nature of American democracy in these excerpts from Harvey C. Mansfield and Delba Winthrop's critically acclaimed new translation of Democracy in America.


Patriotism, Politics, and Democracy in America

Christopher Beem: The Necessity of Politics: Reclaiming American Public Life

Walter Berns: Making Patriots • Read an excerpt.

Frank M. Bryan: Real Democracy: The New England Town Meeting and How It Works

Peter Elliott: Home Front: American Flags from Across the United States • View sample photographs from the book.

Joanthan M. Hansen: The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890-1920 • Read an excerpt from the book and an interview with the author.

Lawrence R. Jacobs and Robert Y. Shapiro: Politicians Don't Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness • Read an excerpt.

Morris Janowitz: The Reconstruction of Patriotism: Education for Civic Consciousness

George Lakoff: Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think, Second Edition

Kathleen D. McCarthy: American Creed: Philanthrophy and the Rise of Civil Society, 1700-1865

Eric L. Muller: Free to Die for Their Country: The Story of the Japanese American Draft Resisters in World War II • Read an excerpt.

Richard M. Rorty: Against Bosses, Against Oligarchies: A Conversation with Richard Rorty

Mark A. Smith: American Business and Political Power: Public Opinion, Elections, and Democracy

David Thelen: Becoming Citizens in the Age of Television: How Americans Challenged the Media and Seized Political Initiative during the Iran-Contra Debate

Dennis F. Thompson: Just Elections: Creating a Fair Electoral Process in the United States

Alexis de Tocqueville: Democracy in America • Read two chapters: "On the Use That the Americans Make of Association in Civil Life" and "Why the Americans Show Themselves So Restive in the Midst of Their Well-Being."

Robert H. Wiebe: Self-Rule: A Cultural History of American Democracy


Secret Lives of Citizens jacket image


Citizenship, Race, and Nationalism

Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr., eds.: Identities

Lewis A. Erenberg and Susan E. Hirsch, eds.: The War in American Culture: Society and Consciousness during World War II

E. U. Essien-Udom: Black Nationalism: The Search for an Identity

Thomas Geoghegan: The Secret Lives of Citizens: Pursuing the Promise of American Life

Eddie S. Glaude Jr.: Exodus! Religion, Race, and Nation in Early Nineteenth-Century Black America

Eddie S. Glaude Jr., ed.: Is It Nation Time? Contemporary Essays on Black Power and Black Nationalism

Donald R. Kinder and Lynn M. Sanders: Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals

Barbara Laslett, Johanna Brenner, and Yesim Arat, eds.: Rethinking the Political: Gender, Resistance, and the State

Norman H. Nie, Jane Junn, and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry: Education and Democratic Citizenship in America

William L. Van Deburg: New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975

Katherine Kramer Walsh: Talking about Politics: Informal Groups and Social Identity in American Life


Mourner's Song jacket image


War and Remembrance

Alan Cohen: On European Ground • View sample photographs from the book.

John C. Dann, ed.: The Revolution Remembered: Eyewitness Accounts of the War for Independence

Jack Fuller: Fragments

James Jones: The Pistol

Barry Schwartz: Abraham Lincoln and the Forge of National Memory

Irwin Shaw: The Young Lions

James Tatum: The Mourner's Song: War and Remembrance from the Iliad to Vietnam • Read excerpts on memorials in Vietnam, the battlefields of Troy and Battery Wagner, and the chapter "The Poetry is in the Killing."

John Whittier Treat: Writing Ground Zero: Japanese Literature and the Atomic Bomb

Gore Vidal: Williwaw: A Novel

Barbie Zelizer: Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory through the Camera's Eye


Lost Promise of Patriotism jacket image


Dissent, Criticism, and Protest

Jane Addams: Jane Addams's Writings on Peace

Allan Antliff: Anarchist Modernism: Art, Politics, and the First American Avant-Garde

David Farber: Chicago '68

Jonathan M. Hansen: The Lost Promise of Patriotism: Debating American Identity, 1890-1920 • Read an excerpt from the book and an interview with the author.

Stephen Hart: Cultural Dilemmas of Progressive Politics: Styles of Engagement among Grassroots Activists • Read an excerpt.

Douglass Hartmann: Race, Culture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete: The 1968 Olympic Protests and Their Aftermath

James M. Jasper: The Art of Moral Protest: Culture, Biography, and Creativity in Social Movements

Glen Jeansonne: Women of the Far Right: The Mothers' Movement and World War II

Taeku Lee: Mobilizing Public Opinion: Black Insurgency and Racial Attitudes in the Civil Rights Era

Frank Lentricchia and Jody McAuliffe: Crimes of Art and Terror

Doug McAdam: Political Process and the Development of Black Insurgency, 1930-1970, Second Edition

Francesca Polletta: Freedom Is an Endless Meeting: Democracy in American Social Movements

Richard M. Rorty: Against Bosses, Against Oligarchies: A Conversation with Richard Rorty

Christian Smith: Resisting Reagan: The U.S. Central America Peace Movement

Amy Swerdlow: Women Strike for Peace: Traditional Motherhood and Radical Politics in the 1960s

James Tracy: Direct Action: Radical Pacificism from the Union Eight to the Chicago Seven

Alan Wolfe: Marginalized in the Middle

Richard L. Wood: Faith in Action: Religion, Race, and Democratic Organizing in America


See also:

* Other excerpts and online features from University of Chicago Press titles
* Our online sourcebook on "The Days After September 11"
* Our catalog of books on politics and political science
* Our catalog of history books
* Sign up for e-mail notification of new Chicago books on these and other subjects