Reviews
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin
anti_formalist12's review
5.0
The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin- It is fairly rare that history can be used to explicate aspects of our modern world. Often, it is improper analysis of history that leads to ahistorical extrapolations. This is used by politicians, academics, and the layman. From hawks invoking appeasement to liberals invoking the “arc of history,” most arguments based in history have functionally little to do with history.
What works about The End of the Myth is that Grandin charts a course through American history to show how the border manifests in American life. More importantly, the role played by the border in smoothing over the conflicts that affect American life. The denouement has a lot to do with the end of the border, and the American response to a world that no longer seems limitless.
Both for the expert and the novice, The End of the Myth is a truly useful contribution to the field. The novice is likely the learn a lot about a subject they may already be familiar with, American history. But the facts take on a different hue and tone in Grandin’s telling. For the expert, there is a unique way of analyzing history. For those engaged in politics, there is a way of recasting the recent events as part of a broader part of American history.
What works about The End of the Myth is that Grandin charts a course through American history to show how the border manifests in American life. More importantly, the role played by the border in smoothing over the conflicts that affect American life. The denouement has a lot to do with the end of the border, and the American response to a world that no longer seems limitless.
Both for the expert and the novice, The End of the Myth is a truly useful contribution to the field. The novice is likely the learn a lot about a subject they may already be familiar with, American history. But the facts take on a different hue and tone in Grandin’s telling. For the expert, there is a unique way of analyzing history. For those engaged in politics, there is a way of recasting the recent events as part of a broader part of American history.
shelby1994's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
A book DeSantis would ban if he was smart enough to read it!
The main thrust of Grandin’s argument is that America is what it is, both in terms of obscene expansion and lingering class and racial conflict, because for several hundred years we did recognize any physical limitations of the country’s borders. The western and southern borders were used by politicians as “safety valves” to diffuse racial and class tensions, enabling the U.S. to hide from it’s most egregious issues of inequality. He links that to Trump’s border wall rhetoric, and the galvanizing of public hysteria about the southern border, as a side effect of us no longer having physical “frontiers” to conquer/disenfranchise/enslave.
There was a throughline of America suffering from a “freedom from restraint,” which was a great jumping off point for thinking about how socialism and other collective-focused societies value restraint over “individualism that destroys the individual.”
The Canadian in me is a bit slighted that 90% of the book focuses on the Southern border or the “ideological” borders of American foreign influence. We share a border too! Obviously not one as fraught with racial undertones, but it would have been interesting to use it as a comparative example.
Read if You:
- Sometimes you forget Canada exists
- Didn’t know which Founding Father referred to the Constitution as “a menstruous rag.”
- Are prepping for a “wild west” Jeopardy night.
eegah's review
informative
medium-paced
3.75
One of the few US History reads outside of schoolwork I've read. Much more engaging than Fordlandia, with very indepth research into the concept of the "frontier" in American exceptionalism.
A good, informative read, but it is quite cursory in its review of other periods outside of Jackson, FDR, and Reagan terms. General readers probably need a little more contextualization with regards to US history (and actually Central American history as well).
A good, informative read, but it is quite cursory in its review of other periods outside of Jackson, FDR, and Reagan terms. General readers probably need a little more contextualization with regards to US history (and actually Central American history as well).
zachfeece34's review
5.0
This is a challenging, but incredibly thought provoking read. I felt so many things click into place for me throughout this book.
Greg Grandin crafts a narrative wide in scope, spanning the entirety of America's history. His thesis here is that throughout its history, the United States has relied upon an ever expanding frontier to serve as a "safety-valve" for its social problems, particularly those of race and class. Instead of confronting these issues head on, the country has been able to push conflict outward onto the "free real estate" in the West and the people who lived there. An example of this can be seen in the spread of capitalism on the East coast. As capitalism took root in America, it forced relatively independent small-holders into market relationships where they had to rely on wages to survive. This was, and remains, an incredibly alienating experience. Many were able to escape this "wage-slavery", as they called it, by moving out West onto land taken from the Native Americans by the Federal government and sold to them for cheap. This alternative to the toils of capitalism allowed Americans to avoid confronting the labor question that their counterparts in Europe could not. This offers an explanation for why the United States never developed a labor party like every other developed capitalist country, and why the social democratic impulse has always been so stunted here. A large part of that comes from the antisocial conception of freedom that frontier life provides.
The presence of the endless frontier created a unique conception of freedom and what it means to be "American". The ideology of the American settler is one of freedom without restraint, to live as limitless as the frontier stretching out before them. An important aspect of this worldview is to be able to dominate without restraint as well, whether that be stripping the land of resources, or enslaving and killing other people. Grandin describes Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian political tradition that came after him as the blueprint of freedom defined as limitless domination. It is the freedom of the master, the boss, the petty tyrant. This political strain can be seen throughout various reactionary movements in the country's history, notably in the modern conservative movement.
After highlighting the importance of the frontier throughout American history, Grandin comes to the present moment. What happens when the frontier is closed? What happens when endless expansion becomes impossible? Where do all those violent impulses that found a release in the borderlands go? Grandin believes they turn inward. This is what Donald Trump represents to him. The reactionary strain of settler colonial ideology has run out of frontiers to dominate, and now looks inward for enemies to blame. Trumpism is the limitless conception of freedom finally recognizing the limits of the world, and instead of facing those limits with a newfound sense of social responsibility or solidarity, chooses unrestrained hedonism for themselves, and barbaric domination for everyone else. Fortress America. Towards the end of the book, Grandin goes into detail on the various right-wing vigilante and paramilitary groups that have sprung up around the Mexican border over the past thirty years, whose goal is to "protect the border from immigrants." He provides a quote from one of these vigilantes that I think sums up what happens when the frontier comes home, "Build the wall and start shooting."
Greg Grandin crafts a narrative wide in scope, spanning the entirety of America's history. His thesis here is that throughout its history, the United States has relied upon an ever expanding frontier to serve as a "safety-valve" for its social problems, particularly those of race and class. Instead of confronting these issues head on, the country has been able to push conflict outward onto the "free real estate" in the West and the people who lived there. An example of this can be seen in the spread of capitalism on the East coast. As capitalism took root in America, it forced relatively independent small-holders into market relationships where they had to rely on wages to survive. This was, and remains, an incredibly alienating experience. Many were able to escape this "wage-slavery", as they called it, by moving out West onto land taken from the Native Americans by the Federal government and sold to them for cheap. This alternative to the toils of capitalism allowed Americans to avoid confronting the labor question that their counterparts in Europe could not. This offers an explanation for why the United States never developed a labor party like every other developed capitalist country, and why the social democratic impulse has always been so stunted here. A large part of that comes from the antisocial conception of freedom that frontier life provides.
The presence of the endless frontier created a unique conception of freedom and what it means to be "American". The ideology of the American settler is one of freedom without restraint, to live as limitless as the frontier stretching out before them. An important aspect of this worldview is to be able to dominate without restraint as well, whether that be stripping the land of resources, or enslaving and killing other people. Grandin describes Andrew Jackson and the Jacksonian political tradition that came after him as the blueprint of freedom defined as limitless domination. It is the freedom of the master, the boss, the petty tyrant. This political strain can be seen throughout various reactionary movements in the country's history, notably in the modern conservative movement.
After highlighting the importance of the frontier throughout American history, Grandin comes to the present moment. What happens when the frontier is closed? What happens when endless expansion becomes impossible? Where do all those violent impulses that found a release in the borderlands go? Grandin believes they turn inward. This is what Donald Trump represents to him. The reactionary strain of settler colonial ideology has run out of frontiers to dominate, and now looks inward for enemies to blame. Trumpism is the limitless conception of freedom finally recognizing the limits of the world, and instead of facing those limits with a newfound sense of social responsibility or solidarity, chooses unrestrained hedonism for themselves, and barbaric domination for everyone else. Fortress America. Towards the end of the book, Grandin goes into detail on the various right-wing vigilante and paramilitary groups that have sprung up around the Mexican border over the past thirty years, whose goal is to "protect the border from immigrants." He provides a quote from one of these vigilantes that I think sums up what happens when the frontier comes home, "Build the wall and start shooting."
kellyndove's review
5.0
This was incredible.
Such a well researched and seamlessly put together account of the myth of the “American Frontier” starting from before our nations conception up until the middle of the Trump Presidency. It gives a stark account about what it took to keep pushing west, and then overseas, all in the name of expansion.
It boils down to: racism, materialism and militarism
It definitely should make anyone who has ever uttered the phrase “Make America Great Again” really think about when that was, because it is abundantly clear it has never been great for anyone not a white man (and moreover white in general). It has a really great connection between the nationalism we’ve seen rise in recent years and the border.
Really really enjoyed this.
Such a well researched and seamlessly put together account of the myth of the “American Frontier” starting from before our nations conception up until the middle of the Trump Presidency. It gives a stark account about what it took to keep pushing west, and then overseas, all in the name of expansion.
It boils down to: racism, materialism and militarism
It definitely should make anyone who has ever uttered the phrase “Make America Great Again” really think about when that was, because it is abundantly clear it has never been great for anyone not a white man (and moreover white in general). It has a really great connection between the nationalism we’ve seen rise in recent years and the border.
Really really enjoyed this.
emyanna's review against another edition
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
The first few chapters don’t have a lot of “new” info (if you’ve read similar books before) but the last half in particular is very informative. Not the most captivating nonfiction work but not painfully boring.
knenigans's review
challenging
dark
4.75
I read this on the 4th of July, which I feel made it even more poignant.
The first third is arranged in a way that sometimes flows awkwardly but after that this was an incredible and disturbing write up of how we got to this current political situation.
The first third is arranged in a way that sometimes flows awkwardly but after that this was an incredible and disturbing write up of how we got to this current political situation.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Deportation, Genocide, Colonisation, Hate crime, and Xenophobia