Being American ...

The House select committee investigating the deadly Capitol riot is holding its first high-profile hearing today, July 27. The powerful and courageous testimony should hopefully inspire all of us to think about what it means to be an American. Here are a couple of new books which also deal with that question: 

AFTER THE FALL by Ben Rhodes is subtitled “Being American in the World We've Made.” Rhodes, former Deputy National Security Advisor and co-host of Pod Save the World, writes “to be American in 2020 was to live in a country diminished in the world, unwilling to control the spread of disease or face up to our racism, and looking over the precipice of abandoning the very democracy that was supposed to be the solid core of our national identity. Understanding how that happened is the starting point to figuring out how to move forward.” He then writes hopefully about being “joined together to do big things.” The text itself is divided into four parts: The Authoritarian Playbook; the Counterrevolution; the Chinese Dream; and Who We Are: Being American. To write this book, Rhodes travelled the world and he describes multiple conversations and observations, particularly in regards to growing nationalist appeals and leadership in Hungary, Russia, and China. Rhodes seems to see the 2008 financial crisis as an inflection point where the average person felt left behind by the elites. In some ways, it explains the views of US voters who struggled to decide between Bernie and Trump, but Rhodes goes farther, pointing out a “more disturbing reality that the world was basically a reflection of America’s post-Cold War identity, our prioritization of money, post-9/11 militarism, and technology.” This book is certainly partisan and disturbing at times; AFTER THE FALL raises issues and will make readers think. 

A different look at being American is offered “For the Immigrant and the Curious,” in Roya Hakakian’s A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO AMERICA. Hakakian, a Guggenheim Fellow and teacher at Yale University’s THREAD program, is herself an immigrant, arriving in 1985 from Iran. In her latest book, self-described as “part memoir, part reportage, and part a work of imagination,” she offers suggestions for immigrants and refugees who often struggle with the practical experiences of learning English, taking public transportation, going grocery shopping, and separating from family. However, Hakakian also provides the opportunity for native-born Americans to reflect upon the many privileges we take for granted and the importance of civic responsibility and service. In a recent NPR interview she explains wanting to “somehow show the America that most native-born Americans can't see, the small signs of democracy that may be invisible to those who have never lived elsewhere.” A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO AMERICA, called “highly recommended for all” by Library Journal is a thoughtful, compelling read.

For additional perspective, see Pew Research Center which offers some fascinating data about changes in attitudes towards the US. Or maybe look at some of Ken Light’s photographic images recently discussed in a Washington Post Article: “An American Decade. Through a Photographer’s Searching Lens.”