The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society | 
 enlarge | Author: Arthur M. Schlesinger
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
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Avg. Customer Rating:  26 reviews
Sales Rank: 136335
Media: Paperback
Edition: Revised
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 208
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.6
ISBN: 0393318540
Dewey Decimal Number: 973
EAN: 9780393318548
ASIN: 0393318540
Publication Date: September 1998
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Amazon.com Review
In this updated version of a modern classic, acclaimed historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. strikes a blow against radical multiculturalism. The rising cult of ethnicity, he argues, threatens a common American identity, imperiling the civic ideals that traditionally have bonded immigrants into a nation. Various chapters criticize bilingual education, Afrocentrism, and the use of history as group therapy for minorities. Schlesinger raised eyebrows when he first published this book in 1992 because of his impeccable liberal credentials as a one-time assistant to President Kennedy and long-standing academic champion of FDR's New Deal. This new version contains all of the original volume's edge, plus a few extras, including an appendix containing "Schlesinger's Syllabus," 13 books "indispensable to an understanding of America." Titles from this eclectic list include The Federalist Papers, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Mencken's American Language. The Disuniting of America remains an essential book for readers interested in the American character as it enters the 21st century. --John J. Miller
Product Description
The 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.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 21 more reviews...
 What Is An American? September 21, 2008
The controversy over whether and to what extent America should be a multicultural nation rings loudly today but the earliest resonations began as far back as Jean Crevecoeur in 1759. In THE DISUNITING OF AMERICA, Arthur Schlesinger notes that no definitive answer will be forthcoming anytime soon. Schlesinger's position is conservative, an odd position for him considering his early youthful fling with liberalism under JFK. Schlesinger places himself squarely in the camp of Dinesh D'Souza and John Ellis, both of whom are aghast at the surge of ethnic tribalism that is currently sweeping the United States. Schlesinger believes strongly that America should be a multicultural nation, but he opposes multiculturalism. The former suggests only that our history books and culture should reflect the rainbow hue that began America. The latter implies that every culture on earth should have equal weight in all matters--except for the white, European-based culture which is the source of all the world's evils. He takes the garden variety complaints of the Afro-Centrists, the Reconquistas, and every other sub group that sees differentiation and exclusion rather than inclusion as the key to defining who we are and where we are going and notes that to the extent that these exclusionists have their collective ways in our schools, then The "United" in the United States will be a term bereft of meaning. All this is not to say that Schlesinger sees no merit in their laments. In fact, he agrees totally that they have been denied their rightful place on the same side and the same page as those who are descended from white European stock. Where he draws the line is the degree to which they seek legitimate redress. Schlesinger places the complaints of the cultural secessionists on a broad spectrum, with one end reflecting a complete hegemony of European whites over non-European non-whites and the other end its polar opposite--the demand that the hegemony continue but instead of a white dominant one, there is to be a series of feudal mini-hegemonies, with each one demanding power, recognition, and historicity.
In between the time of his first edition (1991) and his most recent (2005), Schlesinger does not wax optimistically that America can emerge as a nation that is aware of its multi-hued background without falling into the trap of Balkanization that has bedeviled much of the world today. As for Crevecoeur's original essay on What Is An American, the answer seems to have been more clear to him two centuries ago, than it is now to those who wish a life of seclusion amongst only those who look like them.
More Important Now than Ever! May 12, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
When you think of what befell Rome or
Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations"
this book brings it all together and
is a MUST READ to understand what
is happening the American Melting Pot!
 striving for fairness May 3, 2007
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
The most prominent feature of this book, last revised in 1998, is the fact that the author bends over backward to find something complimentary to say about the ideology that has gripped America for the last few decades. This in itself is quite a challenge, and Schlesinger often gives the impression that he is straining to find some way to make the various slogans of this new dogma seem defensible.
The author's main interest is history, and a great part of the book is on the dismantling of history that has occurred in the last thirty years. The kid gloves treatment of what without exaggeration can easily be called a cultural atrocity, will make some readers impatient. Does he really think that these people are going to read his book? Does he really think that, even if they DO read his book, that their opinions are going to be altered to even a slight degree?
If he does think this, then he does not really understand the full seriousness of the new American mind-set. For a thorough study of this new ideology, see While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination are Destroying America from Within. This book is fair, but it does not attempt to make excuses for what is going on. I really do not think that Schlesinger understood the full seriousness of what is going on. He has spent his life among reasonable and well-informed people.
Looking back at the United America November 7, 2006
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
Today Mr. Schlesinger appears to be a conservative vs. the liberal he actually was when writing the book.
For people over 50, you will recognize America as it was. For younger folks, this will give you an idea of the very rapid changes this country has experienced.
The country was at one time like a rich stew, and now has become a bunch of individual plates of foods or ingredients that don't even want to touch each other. Each ingredient yells out how important it is, and not realizing that carrots alone, wonderful as they may be, have not reached the potential they can when mixed with potatoes, meat, tomatoes, spices and lovingly blended into that rich stew.
Hopefully people will read and understand that the individual ethnic groups need recognition. But, they need to be Americans first, and their ethnic background as second. For example, American-Asian instead of
Asian-American. The ethnocentricism is tearing the country apart, weakening us to invasions of many types.
This book brings these ideas to mind and will make you think and reflect.
It's Tribalism Stupid September 1, 2006
11 out of 17 found this review helpful
While this book was not as compelling as I expected it to be, I completely agree with the general premise. That being that multi-culturalism taken too far is both harmful and counter-productive. Not to mention that it is completely antithetical to what our founders envisioned for this country. Mr. Schlesinger has nothing against the teaching of cultures other than European-American, but he insists that an over-emphasis on ethnicity, ultimately promotes division and an 'us vs. them' mentality. Multi-culturalists argue that it is important for students to be taught about their own respective ethnicity in order to have self-esteem and pride. Mr. Schlesinger argues, and I firmly agree, that as Americans, we no longer belong to the ethnicities of our grandfathers. Our founding fathers were clear about this, Americans are a "new race of men" who must "cast off the European skin, never to resume it." Indeed, America was meant to be a melting pot. Schlesinger acknowledges that throughout much of our history, many minorities were forcibly excluded from fully assimilating. This is no longer the case though, and I think it is important to point out that just because a man (or a nation) fails to live up to it's ideals, does not mean that the ideals are wrong. Included in the book are quotes from various Americans about this issue, and I was somewhat surprised by some of them. For instance, the great Frederick Douglas said, "No one idea has given rise to more opression and persecution toward the colored people of this country, than that which makes Africa, not America, their home. It is that wolfish idea that elbows us off the sidewalk, and denies us the rights of citizenship."
I firmly believe that this tribalist mentality is one of the foremost issues facing America today. We will not survive as a nation if we continue to separate ourselves along lines of race, ethnicity, or religion. As long as we view ourselves as Irish-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or African-Americans, we will never be true Americans. And we will not view each other as fellow Americans, but as separate tribes that need to be guarded against. Is this the America that our founding fathers would have wanted?
As I stated earlier, I didn't find the book as compelling as I expected. Not that it's not good, but I felt the author could have gone further. All in all, it is a decent starting point for anyone interested in the subject of multi-culturalism.
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