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A review by tanyarobinson
Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood by Colin Woodard
4.0
There has been so much in the news lately about Critical Race Theory being taught in schools, and it makes me think about how the traditional story of America's origins was arrived at in the first place. Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood directly addresses that question.
Woodard brings his previous ideas about America's regional cultures into his analysis, which I found very persuasive. He focuses on a handful of historians and writers who he identifies as having outsized influence on creating our national story: New Englander George Bancroft, Southern aristocrat William Gilmore Simms, escaped slave Frederick Douglass, white supremacist and eventual president Woodrow Wilson, and influential historian of the Frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, I'm not sure how he decided that these men were the most influential; I do remember reading Turner in graduate school (for history), and of course know Douglass and Wilson, but Bancroft and Simms were less familiar to me. Anyway, Woodard shows the evolution of these thinkers' writings and teachings, and tries to show how they were propagated through universities and the country in general.
I really enjoyed the book and found the changing ideas of our nation's story fascinating, particularly in regards to the role of the South and the changing opinions of who was included in the country's aspirations for equality. After reading this, I believe more than ever that it is crucial Americans be taught not just a whitewashed version of history to make them patriotic, but a truer more complete version of the past that makes them good citizens and moral people. I don't know that Critical Race Theory is the answer, but there is no reason for this not to be introduced alongside a traditional approach. We should be using history to teach analytical skills, not just to make the majority race feel good about America.
4 stars.
Woodard brings his previous ideas about America's regional cultures into his analysis, which I found very persuasive. He focuses on a handful of historians and writers who he identifies as having outsized influence on creating our national story: New Englander George Bancroft, Southern aristocrat William Gilmore Simms, escaped slave Frederick Douglass, white supremacist and eventual president Woodrow Wilson, and influential historian of the Frontier, Frederick Jackson Turner, I'm not sure how he decided that these men were the most influential; I do remember reading Turner in graduate school (for history), and of course know Douglass and Wilson, but Bancroft and Simms were less familiar to me. Anyway, Woodard shows the evolution of these thinkers' writings and teachings, and tries to show how they were propagated through universities and the country in general.
I really enjoyed the book and found the changing ideas of our nation's story fascinating, particularly in regards to the role of the South and the changing opinions of who was included in the country's aspirations for equality. After reading this, I believe more than ever that it is crucial Americans be taught not just a whitewashed version of history to make them patriotic, but a truer more complete version of the past that makes them good citizens and moral people. I don't know that Critical Race Theory is the answer, but there is no reason for this not to be introduced alongside a traditional approach. We should be using history to teach analytical skills, not just to make the majority race feel good about America.
4 stars.