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A Great Disorder: National Myth and the Battle for America
Red America and Blue America are divided with wildly diverging views of why government exists and who counts as American. Their ideologies are grounded in different versions of American history, endorsing irreconcilable visions of patriotism and national identity.
A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of today's culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of America's foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Richard Slotkin identifies five myths, born of different eras, that have shaped our conception of what it means to be the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (which he breaks into two opposing camps, Emancipation and the Lost Cause), and the Good War, embodied by the multiethnic platoon fighting for freedom. His argument is that while Trump and his MAGA followers have played up a frontier-inspired hostility to the federal government and rallied around Confederate symbols to champion a racially exclusive definition of American nationality, Blue America, taking its cue from the protest movements of the 1960s, envisions a limitlessly pluralistic country in which the federal government is the ultimate enforcer of rights and opportunities. American history—and the foundations of our democracy—have become a battleground. It is not clear at this time which vision will prevail.
A Great Disorder is a bold, urgent work that helps us make sense of today's culture wars through a brilliant reconsideration of America's foundational myths and their use in contemporary politics. Richard Slotkin identifies five myths, born of different eras, that have shaped our conception of what it means to be the myths of the Frontier, the Founding, the Civil War (which he breaks into two opposing camps, Emancipation and the Lost Cause), and the Good War, embodied by the multiethnic platoon fighting for freedom. His argument is that while Trump and his MAGA followers have played up a frontier-inspired hostility to the federal government and rallied around Confederate symbols to champion a racially exclusive definition of American nationality, Blue America, taking its cue from the protest movements of the 1960s, envisions a limitlessly pluralistic country in which the federal government is the ultimate enforcer of rights and opportunities. American history—and the foundations of our democracy—have become a battleground. It is not clear at this time which vision will prevail.
528 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2024
103 people are currently reading
1375 people want to read
About the author
Richard Slotkin
21 books61 followersRichard Slotkin is an American cultural critic, historian, and novelist. He is Olin Professor of English and American Studies Emeritus at Wesleyan University, where he was instrumental in establishing the American Studies and Film Studies programs. His work explores the mythology of the American frontier and its influence on national identity. His trilogy—Regeneration Through Violence, Fatal Environment, and Gunfighter Nation—is widely regarded as a seminal analysis of the frontier myth in American culture. Slotkin has also written historical novels, including Abe: A Novel of the Young Lincoln and The Crater: A Novel of the Civil War. His contributions to scholarship and literature have earned him numerous accolades, including the Albert J. Beveridge Award and multiple National Book Award nominations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 44 reviews
January 24, 2025
While I started this book for a class, I finished this book for myself. I don’t think anyone would properly be able to appreciate this book without my incredible professor’s guidance — but I still think it is well worth the read.
No other book has expanded my understanding of history, politics, and the United States quite like this one. Although Richard Slotkin may be a verbose author, his arguments are perspective shattering. I am so grateful for my class centering its curriculum on A Great Disorder.
Only time will tell if the United States can fix this mess.
No other book has expanded my understanding of history, politics, and the United States quite like this one. Although Richard Slotkin may be a verbose author, his arguments are perspective shattering. I am so grateful for my class centering its curriculum on A Great Disorder.
Only time will tell if the United States can fix this mess.
January 16, 2025
Slotkins analysis of the current American tragedy is based on how national Myth's have formed the public dicourse. But his approach is something of a mixed bag.
First of all, the clinging to Myth's for explanation's is very repetitive, sometimes far fetched and gets a bit annoying at times.
What absolutley does speak for Slotkin's aproach though is, that he shows systematically that the crazy politics of Trump and his MAGA followers, dragging down the US democracy in general and the Republican party in particular, is not some kind of coincindence or unusual part of US History.
The essential sentiments of the MAGA movement, being White supremacy, fanatical Christianity and love for Guns, is firmly based in American Culture since the Pilgrims set foot on shore.
That makes it a somewhat sobering analyses of a divided American society, where solutions towards some kind of reconsilliation in the short term are almost impossible.
Writen before the outcome of the last presidential election, Slotkin even predicts irrepairable harm when Trump would win again, based partly on what's already happening in Florida and Texas. In these States the dominance of the Republican party already controls the way they are manipulating future election Outcomes through Gerrymandering, Voter Restrictions and most dangerously, the stuffing of the Courts with conservative Jugdes.
Where the book however falls very short is in it's neglect to adress the issue of what the role of the Democratic Party is in why Trump and MAGA became so big in the first place.
Why did Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama find rubbing elbows with Wallstreet more important then looking out for the the Common men. Why did the Democrats support bills that threw regulation of funding for elections out of the window, making US democracy a grabbag for those who are willing to spray their cash around. Why did mass incarcenation of black, mostly young, people take a flight on Bill Clintons precidency, and so on, and so on.
There is definit lack of critical selfreflection among liberal America about these issues. They prefer to look at the Republicans, and their slant into crazyness and ignorance, and blame them for what's wrong with todays America. And Slotkin unfortunatly does not much to change that story.
So the gun grazy, ignorant, fanatical christian, MAGA politicians, and of course Trump himself, may be preaching to their own choir, but a lot of that choir walked over from the Democrats in recent times. And untill they find the answer to why that happened and what it takes to win them back, US democracy is heading for an autocratic abyss from where there is no easy way of getting out of.
First of all, the clinging to Myth's for explanation's is very repetitive, sometimes far fetched and gets a bit annoying at times.
What absolutley does speak for Slotkin's aproach though is, that he shows systematically that the crazy politics of Trump and his MAGA followers, dragging down the US democracy in general and the Republican party in particular, is not some kind of coincindence or unusual part of US History.
The essential sentiments of the MAGA movement, being White supremacy, fanatical Christianity and love for Guns, is firmly based in American Culture since the Pilgrims set foot on shore.
That makes it a somewhat sobering analyses of a divided American society, where solutions towards some kind of reconsilliation in the short term are almost impossible.
Writen before the outcome of the last presidential election, Slotkin even predicts irrepairable harm when Trump would win again, based partly on what's already happening in Florida and Texas. In these States the dominance of the Republican party already controls the way they are manipulating future election Outcomes through Gerrymandering, Voter Restrictions and most dangerously, the stuffing of the Courts with conservative Jugdes.
Where the book however falls very short is in it's neglect to adress the issue of what the role of the Democratic Party is in why Trump and MAGA became so big in the first place.
Why did Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama find rubbing elbows with Wallstreet more important then looking out for the the Common men. Why did the Democrats support bills that threw regulation of funding for elections out of the window, making US democracy a grabbag for those who are willing to spray their cash around. Why did mass incarcenation of black, mostly young, people take a flight on Bill Clintons precidency, and so on, and so on.
There is definit lack of critical selfreflection among liberal America about these issues. They prefer to look at the Republicans, and their slant into crazyness and ignorance, and blame them for what's wrong with todays America. And Slotkin unfortunatly does not much to change that story.
So the gun grazy, ignorant, fanatical christian, MAGA politicians, and of course Trump himself, may be preaching to their own choir, but a lot of that choir walked over from the Democrats in recent times. And untill they find the answer to why that happened and what it takes to win them back, US democracy is heading for an autocratic abyss from where there is no easy way of getting out of.
November 18, 2025
Richard Slotkin’s A Great Disorder (2024) is a magisterial, infuriating, and finally self-sabotaging attempt to explain America’s political paralysis through the lens of five competing national myths: Frontier, Founding, two irreconcilable Civil War stories (Liberation vs. Lost Cause), Good War, and Movement. For roughly 400 pages it is brilliant cultural history—Slotkin, now 82, draws on fifty years of scholarship to show how these emotionally charged narratives have always functioned as America’s civil religion, alternately unifying and fracturing the country. He argues that since Vietnam no synthesis has held a stable majority, and that MAGA represents the most dangerous fusion yet of the most exclusionary strands (Frontier vigilantism + Lost Cause ethnonationalism + a reactionary Founding).
The analysis is sweeping and often dazzling. Slotkin is candid where most historians are coy: he acknowledges that King’s non-violence drew power from the credible threat of Malcolm X and urban riots; he refuses to sanitize the regenerative-through-violence core of the Frontier myth. His dissection of January 6 as the public enactment of mythic civil war is devastatingly convincing.
Yet the book has two critical flaws that cost it a star. First, a glaring omission: the War on Drugs, the most sustained, bipartisan, racially coded domestic application of the “Good War” myth in the post-Vietnam era—complete with moral panic, militarized police as the new thin blue line, and regeneration-through-violence rhetoric—receives virtually no attention. This is inexplicable given Slotkin’s career-long focus on frontier violence turned inward; the drug war is the missing chapter that would have made his post-1960s account far stronger.
Second, in the final stretch the scholarly detachment collapses into open contempt for Trump and MAGA (“malignant narcissist,” “verbal sadism,” “authentically American fascism”). The facts are verifiable, but the tone is prosecutorial. A book that diagnoses disunity as the clash of irreconcilable myths ends by excommunicating half the country from any redemptive story.
The diagnosis remains indispensable; the prescription is undermined by the author’s own partisan fury and by a blind spot big enough to drive a battering ram through. Four stars—essential, brilliant, and tragically incomplete.
The analysis is sweeping and often dazzling. Slotkin is candid where most historians are coy: he acknowledges that King’s non-violence drew power from the credible threat of Malcolm X and urban riots; he refuses to sanitize the regenerative-through-violence core of the Frontier myth. His dissection of January 6 as the public enactment of mythic civil war is devastatingly convincing.
Yet the book has two critical flaws that cost it a star. First, a glaring omission: the War on Drugs, the most sustained, bipartisan, racially coded domestic application of the “Good War” myth in the post-Vietnam era—complete with moral panic, militarized police as the new thin blue line, and regeneration-through-violence rhetoric—receives virtually no attention. This is inexplicable given Slotkin’s career-long focus on frontier violence turned inward; the drug war is the missing chapter that would have made his post-1960s account far stronger.
Second, in the final stretch the scholarly detachment collapses into open contempt for Trump and MAGA (“malignant narcissist,” “verbal sadism,” “authentically American fascism”). The facts are verifiable, but the tone is prosecutorial. A book that diagnoses disunity as the clash of irreconcilable myths ends by excommunicating half the country from any redemptive story.
The diagnosis remains indispensable; the prescription is undermined by the author’s own partisan fury and by a blind spot big enough to drive a battering ram through. Four stars—essential, brilliant, and tragically incomplete.
March 21, 2025
"The danger of mythological thinking is that it tempts us to reify our nostalgia for a falsely idealized past, and to sacrifice our future to that illusion." (p. 416, Conclusion)
"We ourselves can agitate and organize, protest or strike, enlist or resign, speak, write, criticize old stories, and tell new ones. We can teach American history in all its true complexity and difficulty, so that the roots of present conditions and dilemmas can be understood by the rising generations. We can make mythic discourse, the telling of American stories, one of the many ways we have of imagining a more perfect union." From the Conclusion chapter, p. 417
"We ourselves can agitate and organize, protest or strike, enlist or resign, speak, write, criticize old stories, and tell new ones. We can teach American history in all its true complexity and difficulty, so that the roots of present conditions and dilemmas can be understood by the rising generations. We can make mythic discourse, the telling of American stories, one of the many ways we have of imagining a more perfect union." From the Conclusion chapter, p. 417
February 26, 2025
Since my research was in how framing affects decisions and I teach a seminar on Symbolic Politics, I was interested when I read the review in Foreign Affairs.
While Slotkin calls frames 'myths' he does not establish how they are different than analogies covered by others. Because he is a historian, I can excuse Slotkin for ignoring much of the existing literature on myths and perceptions. Slotkin's premise that we interpret the world through scenarios of myths struck me as a renaming of analogical reasoning as Khong wrote about in Analogies at War (1992). Jervis wrote about the issue in his Perception and Misperception in International Politics and Vertzberger in Misperceptions in Foreign Policymaking. Others who have written about this include Kahneman and Tversky, Breunig, and McDermott.
Like many social scientists (including political scientists such as myself) Slotkin's research suffers from the 'sins' of selection and interpretation bias. Although he might not call himself a revisionist historian, he interprets all of American history and culture through the myths that he establishes in the Introduction. As such, the book functions as a critique of conservative politics over the last 200 years. His only discussion of the left is when he applies his 'myth of the movement.' He ignores the way radicals in the 1960s and 70s used the myth of the Founding to support their 'revolutionary politics' (Jefferson's quote about 'a little rebellion now and then' was popular), or as a reaction to the USA PATRIOT Act when the supposed Franklin quote about liberty and safety was part of the argument.
As my sons would say, it is clear that Trump is living rent-free in Slotkin's mind. Four of the nineteen chapters and half of the conclusion are spent criticizing Trump and the MAGA movement. Yet, Slotkin ignores how Trump was characterized as 'Hitler' which would frame any actions against him within the myth of the 'Good War.' So, opponents are 'The Resistance' on a par with the anti-Fascist groups in World War 2 and even assassination would be acceptable. Reading this after the 2024 Election, I wonder how after spending time taking about Trump as the 'Last President of the Confederacy' (Chapter 19), Slotkin would explain how Trump was able to garner support among minorities (https://www.usnews.com/news/national-...).
One note, Slotkin calls the movie Three Kings was an example of the Good War myth when any film fan would tell him that it is a remake of the 1962 Sergeants 3 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056470/...) which was a remake of the 1939 Ginga Din (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031398/...). As such, it predates the Good War (World War 2).
I wavered between giving this book a one star or two star rating. I finally settled on a two star rating.
While Slotkin calls frames 'myths' he does not establish how they are different than analogies covered by others. Because he is a historian, I can excuse Slotkin for ignoring much of the existing literature on myths and perceptions. Slotkin's premise that we interpret the world through scenarios of myths struck me as a renaming of analogical reasoning as Khong wrote about in Analogies at War (1992). Jervis wrote about the issue in his Perception and Misperception in International Politics and Vertzberger in Misperceptions in Foreign Policymaking. Others who have written about this include Kahneman and Tversky, Breunig, and McDermott.
Like many social scientists (including political scientists such as myself) Slotkin's research suffers from the 'sins' of selection and interpretation bias. Although he might not call himself a revisionist historian, he interprets all of American history and culture through the myths that he establishes in the Introduction. As such, the book functions as a critique of conservative politics over the last 200 years. His only discussion of the left is when he applies his 'myth of the movement.' He ignores the way radicals in the 1960s and 70s used the myth of the Founding to support their 'revolutionary politics' (Jefferson's quote about 'a little rebellion now and then' was popular), or as a reaction to the USA PATRIOT Act when the supposed Franklin quote about liberty and safety was part of the argument.
As my sons would say, it is clear that Trump is living rent-free in Slotkin's mind. Four of the nineteen chapters and half of the conclusion are spent criticizing Trump and the MAGA movement. Yet, Slotkin ignores how Trump was characterized as 'Hitler' which would frame any actions against him within the myth of the 'Good War.' So, opponents are 'The Resistance' on a par with the anti-Fascist groups in World War 2 and even assassination would be acceptable. Reading this after the 2024 Election, I wonder how after spending time taking about Trump as the 'Last President of the Confederacy' (Chapter 19), Slotkin would explain how Trump was able to garner support among minorities (https://www.usnews.com/news/national-...).
One note, Slotkin calls the movie Three Kings was an example of the Good War myth when any film fan would tell him that it is a remake of the 1962 Sergeants 3 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056470/...) which was a remake of the 1939 Ginga Din (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031398/...). As such, it predates the Good War (World War 2).
I wavered between giving this book a one star or two star rating. I finally settled on a two star rating.
April 14, 2025
If, since the latest Trump victory, you have been wondering how the heck we got here, you will enjoy this read. It follows American myth-making and how those myths make their way into our rhetoric in an effort to justify political action. I might have found it a bit alarmist pre-2025 but certainly not now. This is a great resource for building media literacy when reading the news—something we desperately need.
April 9, 2025
Slotkin offers an interesting viewpoint about how America's foundational myths have shaped the nation's racial history and political landscape. Beneath this academic and sometimes tenuous examination lies a candid and sobering assessment of America's current state and trajectory, and sage advice on how to navigate the challenges ahead.
January 10, 2026
Another large scale political science and historical study of "how we got here". If our current (2026) political circumstances have not thoroughly depressed you, Sotkin's deep study will. Well researched but fitting in a host of related studies, Slotkin does give some hope and advice to follow to build out it this mess.
April 28, 2024
A survey American history that’s wrapped up in grand myths that have become weaponized in today’s culture wars.
August 31, 2025
An astonishing book, dense and requiring patience, but every page was fascinating. I’ve read many books on the American political divide, but this is the first one that put it into a framework that made sense. The author discusses numerous national “myths,” referring to the stories we tell about our past and present.
Our common myths include, among others:
The FRONTIER MYTH (brave White men moving westward, grabbing land and resources, e.g., “drill, baby, drill,” and conquering savages, e.g., Native Americans, Irish Catholics, non-white immigrants from Southern Europe, and lately, Hispanic immigrants.) This myth also includes frontiers in space, such as the moon landing.
The FOUNDING MYTH (the founders were devoted patriots, brilliant and highly principled). The Lost Cause Myth (see below) also insists that the founders were Christians who established a Christian country.
Several Civil War myths, including the LOST CAUSE MYTH (Southerners fought to defend their unique culture, which was based on racial slavery and a planter-dominated social hierarchy. With their armies defeated by the Union Army, they would continue the culture war by other means, such as vigilante violence.) Author’s note: “[The Lost Cause Myth] has proved in many ways the most durable and potent of the Civil War myths, as its recrudescence in the MAGA movement illustrates.”
The GOOD WAR MYTH (World War II, our racially diverse American army fighting Fascism in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.) Even if the army was not actually integrated yet, WWII movies tried to depict it that way, inserting a token Black character where he didn’t exist in the army at that time.
The MOVEMENT MYTHS (The liberation movements of the 60s, such as civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights.) This movement myth is in direct conflict with the Lost Cause Myth, which promotes a social hierarchy with White men at the top.
Some pertinent quotes:
Page 91: “[Robert E. Lee] supported the seizure of fugitive slaves and free Blacks by his troops during the invasion of Pennsylvania and accepted the reenslavement and abusive treatment of captured Black Union soldiers.”
Page 105: “Lynchings were the hallmark of the Jim Crow system. …between 1880 and 1915, there were on average two lynchings every week …” and other racial murders “for not giving way on the sidewalk, for ‘reckless eyeballing,’ or for other defiant behavior…”
Page 113: “…at the turn of the twentieth century, American national mythology had developed [an] … ethnonationalist character, equating patriotism with … White racial supremacy and treating ‘democracy’ as a secondary value.
Page 308: “…Make America Great Again was a … modern version of the Lost Cause and Redemption Myth. The original myth justified… the [undoing] of … Reconstruction. Following that paradigm, MAGA seeks to overthrow the Second Reconstruction of the 1960s. … Its ‘militant secularism’ and critical revisions of American history devalued the institutions and traditions that had given ‘real Americans’ (White, native-born Christians) their cultural authority and control of economic, cultural, and political hierarchies.”
Page 315: “Cruelty … is essential to Trump’s performance as culture warrior. … Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.”
Page 321: According to the anti-Trump conservative David Frum in 2018, “If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
Page 383: Two alternatives are on offer. The Democratic Party … [and its] pandemic relief, infrastructure rebuilding …, job creation, family support, carbon emissions control, and racial justice. It invokes the New Deal and the civil rights movement as its myth-historical models. … It is opposed by a MAGA … Party determined to fight for its cultural Lost Cause… The prevalence of ethnonationalism in MAGA … threatens the solidarity of the nation as a community. …”
Page 411: “…if you are not discomfited by studying American history—or the history of any country—you are probably not getting the real story. Every nation, whatever its virtues, has to some extent been built on deeds of violence, injustice, and exploitation. Our history created the conditions under which we live today. If we refuse to see the reality of that history, we limit our power to correct the problems that history bequeathed us.
Page 412: “The cultural forces that sustained [Jim Crow] are nearly identical to those that inform the MAGA order.” A Duke political scientist sees the MAGA/red-state order as “a form of clero-fascism” rooted in the “Christian white-supremacist ideology that evolved to justify slavery … a white Evangelical oligarchy with repression—jailtime, physical violence and death—inflicted on those who will not succumb to this oligarchy.”
And here we are now, living under an oligarchy, with billionaires and White supremacists calling the shots. They have won! So far…
Highly recommended!
Our common myths include, among others:
The FRONTIER MYTH (brave White men moving westward, grabbing land and resources, e.g., “drill, baby, drill,” and conquering savages, e.g., Native Americans, Irish Catholics, non-white immigrants from Southern Europe, and lately, Hispanic immigrants.) This myth also includes frontiers in space, such as the moon landing.
The FOUNDING MYTH (the founders were devoted patriots, brilliant and highly principled). The Lost Cause Myth (see below) also insists that the founders were Christians who established a Christian country.
Several Civil War myths, including the LOST CAUSE MYTH (Southerners fought to defend their unique culture, which was based on racial slavery and a planter-dominated social hierarchy. With their armies defeated by the Union Army, they would continue the culture war by other means, such as vigilante violence.) Author’s note: “[The Lost Cause Myth] has proved in many ways the most durable and potent of the Civil War myths, as its recrudescence in the MAGA movement illustrates.”
The GOOD WAR MYTH (World War II, our racially diverse American army fighting Fascism in Europe and the Japanese in the Pacific.) Even if the army was not actually integrated yet, WWII movies tried to depict it that way, inserting a token Black character where he didn’t exist in the army at that time.
The MOVEMENT MYTHS (The liberation movements of the 60s, such as civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights.) This movement myth is in direct conflict with the Lost Cause Myth, which promotes a social hierarchy with White men at the top.
Some pertinent quotes:
Page 91: “[Robert E. Lee] supported the seizure of fugitive slaves and free Blacks by his troops during the invasion of Pennsylvania and accepted the reenslavement and abusive treatment of captured Black Union soldiers.”
Page 105: “Lynchings were the hallmark of the Jim Crow system. …between 1880 and 1915, there were on average two lynchings every week …” and other racial murders “for not giving way on the sidewalk, for ‘reckless eyeballing,’ or for other defiant behavior…”
Page 113: “…at the turn of the twentieth century, American national mythology had developed [an] … ethnonationalist character, equating patriotism with … White racial supremacy and treating ‘democracy’ as a secondary value.
Page 308: “…Make America Great Again was a … modern version of the Lost Cause and Redemption Myth. The original myth justified… the [undoing] of … Reconstruction. Following that paradigm, MAGA seeks to overthrow the Second Reconstruction of the 1960s. … Its ‘militant secularism’ and critical revisions of American history devalued the institutions and traditions that had given ‘real Americans’ (White, native-born Christians) their cultural authority and control of economic, cultural, and political hierarchies.”
Page 315: “Cruelty … is essential to Trump’s performance as culture warrior. … Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.”
Page 321: According to the anti-Trump conservative David Frum in 2018, “If conservatives become convinced that they cannot win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
Page 383: Two alternatives are on offer. The Democratic Party … [and its] pandemic relief, infrastructure rebuilding …, job creation, family support, carbon emissions control, and racial justice. It invokes the New Deal and the civil rights movement as its myth-historical models. … It is opposed by a MAGA … Party determined to fight for its cultural Lost Cause… The prevalence of ethnonationalism in MAGA … threatens the solidarity of the nation as a community. …”
Page 411: “…if you are not discomfited by studying American history—or the history of any country—you are probably not getting the real story. Every nation, whatever its virtues, has to some extent been built on deeds of violence, injustice, and exploitation. Our history created the conditions under which we live today. If we refuse to see the reality of that history, we limit our power to correct the problems that history bequeathed us.
Page 412: “The cultural forces that sustained [Jim Crow] are nearly identical to those that inform the MAGA order.” A Duke political scientist sees the MAGA/red-state order as “a form of clero-fascism” rooted in the “Christian white-supremacist ideology that evolved to justify slavery … a white Evangelical oligarchy with repression—jailtime, physical violence and death—inflicted on those who will not succumb to this oligarchy.”
And here we are now, living under an oligarchy, with billionaires and White supremacists calling the shots. They have won! So far…
Highly recommended!
Read
October 10, 2024In 1938 the American literary critic Howard Mumford Jones published an article in The Atlantic titled ‘Patriotism – but How?’ As Europe teetered on the brink of war, Jones observed how fascist dictators were skilfully manipulating their nation’s myths to rally their populations. By contrast, the United States seemed culturally adrift – its mythic heroes discredited by a generation of cynical writers and ‘debunking biographers’. Bemoaning this trend, Jones called for a ‘patriotic renaissance’, encouraging its writers and historians to unearth ‘thrilling anecdotes’ from their nation’s past. ‘The only way to conquer an alien mythology’, Jones wrote, ‘is to have a better mythology of your own.’
A response came, fittingly enough, from Hollywood, America’s myth-making capital. Yet while Gone with the Wind (1939) was hugely popular, critics worried that the myths it promoted were more likely to encourage American-style fascism than fortify democracy. Drenched in nostalgia for the slave-owning South, the film invoked the ‘Lost Cause’ myth of the Civil War, romanticising the Confederacy’s role as a noble effort to preserve a virtuous way of life rather than a violent rebellion to maintain slavery. Many implored the film’s producer, David O. Selznick, not to make it. The Jewish actor Hyman Meyer wrote that such a film would ‘be welcomed by the Fascists ... of this country’, including the Ku Klux Klan. Sure enough, it quickly became a favourite among Germany’s Nazi elite.
It was also popular with southern segregationists (and, it should be said, the filmgoing public). During the 1950s, Gone with the Wind’s Lost Cause mythology was invoked to energise a ‘massive resistance’ to the civil rights movement. More recently, as Richard Slotkin notes in A Great Disorder, the Lost Cause myth has been embraced by Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on 6 January, many did so waving Confederate flags. At a 2020 campaign rally in Colorado, Trump criticised that year’s Academy Awards by asking his supporters: ‘Can we get, like, Gone with the Wind back, please?’
Read the full review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Sam Collings-Wells is Junior Research Fellow in American History at the University of Cambridge.
A response came, fittingly enough, from Hollywood, America’s myth-making capital. Yet while Gone with the Wind (1939) was hugely popular, critics worried that the myths it promoted were more likely to encourage American-style fascism than fortify democracy. Drenched in nostalgia for the slave-owning South, the film invoked the ‘Lost Cause’ myth of the Civil War, romanticising the Confederacy’s role as a noble effort to preserve a virtuous way of life rather than a violent rebellion to maintain slavery. Many implored the film’s producer, David O. Selznick, not to make it. The Jewish actor Hyman Meyer wrote that such a film would ‘be welcomed by the Fascists ... of this country’, including the Ku Klux Klan. Sure enough, it quickly became a favourite among Germany’s Nazi elite.
It was also popular with southern segregationists (and, it should be said, the filmgoing public). During the 1950s, Gone with the Wind’s Lost Cause mythology was invoked to energise a ‘massive resistance’ to the civil rights movement. More recently, as Richard Slotkin notes in A Great Disorder, the Lost Cause myth has been embraced by Donald Trump’s MAGA movement. When insurrectionists stormed the Capitol on 6 January, many did so waving Confederate flags. At a 2020 campaign rally in Colorado, Trump criticised that year’s Academy Awards by asking his supporters: ‘Can we get, like, Gone with the Wind back, please?’
Read the full review at https://www.historytoday.com/archive/...
Sam Collings-Wells is Junior Research Fellow in American History at the University of Cambridge.
February 20, 2025
In A Great Disorder, the author examines the various national myths. These stories based on the country's history serve as a kind of historical shorthand for defining who we are as a nation. Some examples he gives are The Myth of the Founding, The Myth of Redemption after the Civil War, and the Myth of the Movement from the Civil Rights era. While these myths are based on historical events, they are not entirely factual but aspirational. They serve as frameworks that Americans put contemporary events in to decide whether they agree with them.
The author argues that these myths are often contradictory and in competition with each other. Most of the book is dedicated to explaining these myths, their origins, and what they mean. The author then examines how contemporary political leaders use these myths to serve their purposes. The book's conclusion is a warning that what many people see as abnormal in the country's current politics is actually not at all abnormal. Still, it is a perpetuation of older myths that promote the privilege of straight, white Christian men to run the country the way they see fit. Ultimately, this book is a history of ideas with a warning. Since founding the U.S., the country has struggled to define itself. While the political right has been evident in its reactionary vision, the left has struggled to develop a similar narrative.
The final part of the book is about how the Republican Party in general and Donald Trump in particular have harnessed some of the nation’s most reactionary myths to gain power. The myths they tap into are used to justify some of the darkest parts of our nation's history. The author argues that it is imperative for the nation’s progressive forces to harness the progressive myths to counter the rightward shift in the nation's politics.
This is a fascinating book that would be of interest to anyone interested in political history who wonders how the nation got into the political situation it is currently in.
The author argues that these myths are often contradictory and in competition with each other. Most of the book is dedicated to explaining these myths, their origins, and what they mean. The author then examines how contemporary political leaders use these myths to serve their purposes. The book's conclusion is a warning that what many people see as abnormal in the country's current politics is actually not at all abnormal. Still, it is a perpetuation of older myths that promote the privilege of straight, white Christian men to run the country the way they see fit. Ultimately, this book is a history of ideas with a warning. Since founding the U.S., the country has struggled to define itself. While the political right has been evident in its reactionary vision, the left has struggled to develop a similar narrative.
The final part of the book is about how the Republican Party in general and Donald Trump in particular have harnessed some of the nation’s most reactionary myths to gain power. The myths they tap into are used to justify some of the darkest parts of our nation's history. The author argues that it is imperative for the nation’s progressive forces to harness the progressive myths to counter the rightward shift in the nation's politics.
This is a fascinating book that would be of interest to anyone interested in political history who wonders how the nation got into the political situation it is currently in.
October 24, 2025
An incredibly interesting take on the current cultural political situation in the United States with a well researched and articulated history of the United States through the lens of its national myths. From studying history, I found much support for the author’s analysis and conclusions. Unfortunately, I fear that those in the main wings of both major political parties will choose to ignore rather than engage with it. There’s so much of that today. Whereas reading and listening to learn would benefit us all.
“The difference is cultural. Unlike other industrialized nations, America has a culture that grants broad sanctions for individuals to use violence for private ends. Americans, therefore, have greater reason to fear violence, and they feel a greater need for weapons of self defense.”
“Trump’s ultimate defeat did not erase the effects of his presidency on our political culture. Nor has it diminished the convictions of his base. The actions of Trump and his supporters are now part of our history, available as precedents for future actors. … Among our possible images of heroic leadership, we must now include Trump triumphing through shameless demagogy. And when we think about future elections, we must include the possibility of sedition or an authoritarian coup.”
“The history of national myth shows that change is possible. No single creative act can produce a national myth, but the actions we take, the stories we tell about those actions, and the historical frames in which we set them can add up over time to a new or reformed national myth. We ourselves can agitate and organize, protest or strike, enlist or resign, speak, write, criticize old stories and tell new ones. We can teach American history in all its true complexity and difficulty so that the roots of present conditions and dilemmas can be understood by the rising generations. We can make mythic discourse, the telling of American stories, one of the many ways we have of imagining a more perfect union.”
“The difference is cultural. Unlike other industrialized nations, America has a culture that grants broad sanctions for individuals to use violence for private ends. Americans, therefore, have greater reason to fear violence, and they feel a greater need for weapons of self defense.”
“Trump’s ultimate defeat did not erase the effects of his presidency on our political culture. Nor has it diminished the convictions of his base. The actions of Trump and his supporters are now part of our history, available as precedents for future actors. … Among our possible images of heroic leadership, we must now include Trump triumphing through shameless demagogy. And when we think about future elections, we must include the possibility of sedition or an authoritarian coup.”
“The history of national myth shows that change is possible. No single creative act can produce a national myth, but the actions we take, the stories we tell about those actions, and the historical frames in which we set them can add up over time to a new or reformed national myth. We ourselves can agitate and organize, protest or strike, enlist or resign, speak, write, criticize old stories and tell new ones. We can teach American history in all its true complexity and difficulty so that the roots of present conditions and dilemmas can be understood by the rising generations. We can make mythic discourse, the telling of American stories, one of the many ways we have of imagining a more perfect union.”
August 23, 2025
This immensely interesting and very deep investigation into the various "national story" myths that we Americans have developed since our coming to this continent could actually also serve -- although I don't think it was the author's intention -- as a reasonably good "stand-alone" history of the United States!
A word first about "myths." Myth does NOT mean -- at least automatically -- "falsehood" or "untruth." Rather, myths are the way humans seem to have from the beginning of our existence striven to make sense of both "where we are" and "how we got here." Since we humans LOVE stories -- and are rather good storytellers (even about ourselves!) -- we have developed myths since time memorial to make sense of things and to explain how our present developed out of our remembered "past."
A momentary digression that I hope helps -- many times in our lives we find ourselves telling stories about ourselves or our families. For example, think of yourself during a job interview as you are asked to "say something about yourself." Clearly, the interviewer is not asking you to tell EVERYTHING but, rather, those things that will be useful in helping them decide whether or not YOU are the best candidate for the job.
So what do you do? You carefully select aspects of "your story" to present, perhaps -- and I think this applies to most of us -- embellishing or polishing some of it a tad in order to make it more "sellable."
Or consider when you first met and sought to woo your partner -- clearly, you not only sought to "put your best foot forward" but to also embellish somewhat the high -- or good -- points and similarly to completely exclude less noteworthy aspects of your character.
In fact, as modern psychological studies have demonstrated, we are ALL salespersons almost all of the time, altering and changing (including omitting or suppressing) elements of "our story" as audience and occasion necessitates.
OK, from this let's segue to the fact that we humans are also very much SOCIAL animals, even if often our behavior seems to come across as anti-social these days! So we are drawn not only to telling stories about ourselves, but also about "us" -- similarly, who "we" are and how "we" got to our present place.
Enter national myths!
Just as individuals tell each other only parts of our stories -- for the sake of time, if nothing else -- so also do we tell those parts of our national stories that seem most relevant, compelling, useful, or consoling at the time. After all, most of us are not historians; we neither know, nor particularly care about, the "whole story" but, rather, only those parts of the story that we need to remember NOW.
While such is clearly not all-inclusive, it is also not intentionally deceiving. Just as we hope an interviewer will respond positively to "our story," so do we hope other peoples will respond affirmatively to "our story" about the United States. Equally important, we hope to inspire each other and our children with "our story" to give them hope for the future.
All of this explains much behind the "culture wars" of our own time. Yes, there is clearly much lying, deception, and iniquity going on by intentional manipulators and peddlers of disinformation who seek only to rally their own "side" while enflaming rage against the "other side," but for the average citizen it is not surprising that the kind of narrative told can often seem to leave out something important or, alternatively, include something deemed less worthy or important that has the effect of souring the over-all story.
So, is which "story" about our country is most "true" -- that we have a deep cultural history of violence towards those whom we consider "others," "outsiders," or "less worthy" -- such as Native peoples, Blacks, and others who believe s practice differently than we? Or that while our history does have its darker moments, the overall story is a positive one of correcting mistakes, righting wrongs, and continually seeking to better ourselves, morally as well as economically?
This is the intriguing "stuff" that Dr. Slotkin dives into in this remarkable book. Even as he explains in depth how each major element of our sometimes competing national myths came into being -- for instance, the myths respectively of "the frontier," the Civil War as the "just war for liberation of Black peoples" or, conversely, as the "Lost Cause," and the "cowboy/gunfighter," to mention just a few of the more important myths -- he also talks about how many of them still linger, standing just behind, if you will, much of our current hostile back-and-forth that explains not only how different elements among us "see" things, but also how we "remember" and "explain" things.
Again, while there are definitely some who are trying to manipulate these myths in order to sow discord and advance their own political, social, and economic goals, most of us find ourselves caught up in competing myths about ourselves that combine elements of hard truth with wishful thinking (or willfully dis-remembering).
Throughout this book you have will many occasions to marvel at how we have always sought to portray who is "on top" as well as the "rightness" of their being in charge, the nature of those striving to change the existing order(s) in order to advance various causes of underrepresented people, the nature of our economic and political systems, and even the truest or finest goals of this nation as presumably narrated from the beginning.
The book is as passionate as it is fact-based and objective, and I wish people of all political/cultural inclinations could read and ponder it for we all have a lot to learn about each other, and a lot of work to do to REFORM our national myth(s) in time to ensure our survival as a people into the future.
The current divide is as deep as that which preceded the Civil War of the mid-19th Century. The future is not inevitable, but its outcome depends upon the choices we make NOW.
A word first about "myths." Myth does NOT mean -- at least automatically -- "falsehood" or "untruth." Rather, myths are the way humans seem to have from the beginning of our existence striven to make sense of both "where we are" and "how we got here." Since we humans LOVE stories -- and are rather good storytellers (even about ourselves!) -- we have developed myths since time memorial to make sense of things and to explain how our present developed out of our remembered "past."
A momentary digression that I hope helps -- many times in our lives we find ourselves telling stories about ourselves or our families. For example, think of yourself during a job interview as you are asked to "say something about yourself." Clearly, the interviewer is not asking you to tell EVERYTHING but, rather, those things that will be useful in helping them decide whether or not YOU are the best candidate for the job.
So what do you do? You carefully select aspects of "your story" to present, perhaps -- and I think this applies to most of us -- embellishing or polishing some of it a tad in order to make it more "sellable."
Or consider when you first met and sought to woo your partner -- clearly, you not only sought to "put your best foot forward" but to also embellish somewhat the high -- or good -- points and similarly to completely exclude less noteworthy aspects of your character.
In fact, as modern psychological studies have demonstrated, we are ALL salespersons almost all of the time, altering and changing (including omitting or suppressing) elements of "our story" as audience and occasion necessitates.
OK, from this let's segue to the fact that we humans are also very much SOCIAL animals, even if often our behavior seems to come across as anti-social these days! So we are drawn not only to telling stories about ourselves, but also about "us" -- similarly, who "we" are and how "we" got to our present place.
Enter national myths!
Just as individuals tell each other only parts of our stories -- for the sake of time, if nothing else -- so also do we tell those parts of our national stories that seem most relevant, compelling, useful, or consoling at the time. After all, most of us are not historians; we neither know, nor particularly care about, the "whole story" but, rather, only those parts of the story that we need to remember NOW.
While such is clearly not all-inclusive, it is also not intentionally deceiving. Just as we hope an interviewer will respond positively to "our story," so do we hope other peoples will respond affirmatively to "our story" about the United States. Equally important, we hope to inspire each other and our children with "our story" to give them hope for the future.
All of this explains much behind the "culture wars" of our own time. Yes, there is clearly much lying, deception, and iniquity going on by intentional manipulators and peddlers of disinformation who seek only to rally their own "side" while enflaming rage against the "other side," but for the average citizen it is not surprising that the kind of narrative told can often seem to leave out something important or, alternatively, include something deemed less worthy or important that has the effect of souring the over-all story.
So, is which "story" about our country is most "true" -- that we have a deep cultural history of violence towards those whom we consider "others," "outsiders," or "less worthy" -- such as Native peoples, Blacks, and others who believe s practice differently than we? Or that while our history does have its darker moments, the overall story is a positive one of correcting mistakes, righting wrongs, and continually seeking to better ourselves, morally as well as economically?
This is the intriguing "stuff" that Dr. Slotkin dives into in this remarkable book. Even as he explains in depth how each major element of our sometimes competing national myths came into being -- for instance, the myths respectively of "the frontier," the Civil War as the "just war for liberation of Black peoples" or, conversely, as the "Lost Cause," and the "cowboy/gunfighter," to mention just a few of the more important myths -- he also talks about how many of them still linger, standing just behind, if you will, much of our current hostile back-and-forth that explains not only how different elements among us "see" things, but also how we "remember" and "explain" things.
Again, while there are definitely some who are trying to manipulate these myths in order to sow discord and advance their own political, social, and economic goals, most of us find ourselves caught up in competing myths about ourselves that combine elements of hard truth with wishful thinking (or willfully dis-remembering).
Throughout this book you have will many occasions to marvel at how we have always sought to portray who is "on top" as well as the "rightness" of their being in charge, the nature of those striving to change the existing order(s) in order to advance various causes of underrepresented people, the nature of our economic and political systems, and even the truest or finest goals of this nation as presumably narrated from the beginning.
The book is as passionate as it is fact-based and objective, and I wish people of all political/cultural inclinations could read and ponder it for we all have a lot to learn about each other, and a lot of work to do to REFORM our national myth(s) in time to ensure our survival as a people into the future.
The current divide is as deep as that which preceded the Civil War of the mid-19th Century. The future is not inevitable, but its outcome depends upon the choices we make NOW.
September 30, 2024
I gave it 4 because at times it was so information-heavy it was a bit of a slog to get through. The information, though, was fascinating and infuriating. Detailing the many myths that have shaped our nation (The Frontier, The Founding, The Civil War ( split into The Emancipation and The Lost Cause), The Great War, the book traces our history and how these myths came to be - and worse yet, how they have been used, mostly by our politicians but also by those who would seek to control our politician, to manipulate the population. The culmination of this manipulation (relevant to our current political nightmare) is traced from the 1980s through today as conservative political forces have pushed us into a culture war exemplified by the rise of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement. To say that reading the last 1/3 of the book was stressful would be an understatement. For those that find history, society, and politics fascinating, I recommend it. Unfortunately, those in our population that need to read it the most never will.
March 10, 2025
This was a great analytical book, which seemed to me to be the culmination of a lifetime's worth of research in American history. The depth was reminscent to me of Tim Snyder's On Tyranny, or some of the final books by Tony Judt. It's about American mythologies, how they started, how they evolved, how people use them, and what they mean today and what it says about us as a society. Anyway, I found the book to be comprehensive, intellectually rigorous and characteristically quite blunt. You might not like what he has to say, depending on your political affiliations, but that doesn't mean he isn't on the money. People would benefit from reading this. A Great Disorder provided a lot of historical context for me so that I can better understand current events.
November 25, 2024
Every myth has an ounce of truth right? This book deep dives into some of the biggest topics in American history and separated legend from fact. The current state of “culture wars” in America has somehow made it controversial to learn factual accurate history even if it doesn’t make some of our leaders look so great in hindsight.
Why studying this and being critical of past decisions has made people not as patriotic as those who ignore fact and want to say we only made correct choices as a country is beyond me.
I truly enjoyed each topic as you are walked through our chronological history and how it ties into how we got where we are as a country now.
A great choice on audio as well.
Why studying this and being critical of past decisions has made people not as patriotic as those who ignore fact and want to say we only made correct choices as a country is beyond me.
I truly enjoyed each topic as you are walked through our chronological history and how it ties into how we got where we are as a country now.
A great choice on audio as well.
August 5, 2024
Still reading but highly recommend it. It's a 4.5 - my complaint is it's too long and repetitive at times. I haven't read Slotkin's other books on the same topic but will take a look. My impression is that Slotkin and his publisher realized that with the MAGA culture war and 2024 election exploding on us,
there was a need for a quick update of his previous works.
After plowng thru a couple hundred pages and getting a good grasp of how our national myths shape our culture, I'm skipping to the last chapter to see his predictions or solutions for our divided country.
there was a need for a quick update of his previous works.
After plowng thru a couple hundred pages and getting a good grasp of how our national myths shape our culture, I'm skipping to the last chapter to see his predictions or solutions for our divided country.
October 14, 2024
I cannot think of a more relevant book to read on the eve of this year's consequential general election. The author does an excellent job of tracing the influence of our prevailing national myths on present-day political discourse. He does a masterful job of describing the cultural and political juncture we have reached as a nation, as well as the cultural and mythological factors that brought us here. I found it a very fascinating read. God help us all in the wake of whatever result comes out of this pivotal election.
September 28, 2025
Chop off the first half of this book and you might have something interesting here. I really think this book could have benefited from an editor willing to take an axe to the many unnecessary segments of the book. For example, the author must be a film buff given how much time he used to describe the plots of various films. I personally don't think the lengthy descriptions of these films added much to his argument and could easily have been removed. The audio narrator was also pretty monotone, and I think that added to my displeasure with this book.
December 10, 2024
Fairly in depth, but looks at how America came to embrace MAGAism through the lens of multiple sequential shared myths of greatness from our founding, taking the frontier, and the “lost cause” narrative of white southerners following the civil war, and how these translated into current white supremacist MAGA extremism. Worth the time. The first half was tougher but necessary foundational discussion. The last 5 hours or so are from Trump to just before the 2024 election.
July 16, 2025
A really thought provoking American History book that studies the roots of the current divisions in politics today. It is based on a series of myths including the founding myth, the frontier myth, the lost cause myth and others that the MAGA folks and the right have a different reading of our countries' history. (From my view a wrong reading.) In a sense MAGA has taken up the Souths' side in the Civil War which we still seem to be fighting.
May 11, 2025
At over 400 pages of historical analysis, this book is not a light read, but it is excellent. We understand our past and present in stories, and Slotkin describes then analyzes these stories themselves, describing how political movements use them to persuade. it was published in 2024, on the verge of the election, and I found the last chapter chillingly foretelling. Definitely worth a read.
September 8, 2025
I really don't like "grand narrative" books. They ignore so much nuance among different groups of people. This book falls into that trap - the idea that there are just two myths competing right now seems far fetched to me. There are so many different realities in the United States -- always have been -- to generalize like this just misses the mark to me.
May 17, 2024
I just finished teaching this book in my US History class - a powerful discussion about aspects of national myth making and how conservatives and liberals use different elements of those myths to construct their political identities. A great read.
August 14, 2024
The book is interesting and well-written. But I cannot say that it told me anything earth-shaking or new about American culture, history or the myths of America. I enjoyed reading it and thinking about the author’s views.
November 15, 2024
would love his take on the recent election
November 28, 2024
While an otherwise solid work, this book has two egregious errors. First, it incorrectly states that three, instead of four, girls died in the 1964 Birmingham church bombing pg. 181). Second, it mis-states Hitler's first name as "Adolph" three times (pages 203, 226, and 368).
December 4, 2024
An outstanding primer on how historical memory informs our national politics.
December 8, 2024
had some good moments
I felt up through Trump this books did a good job at taking through things. Once we hit trump it fell apart.
I felt up through Trump this books did a good job at taking through things. Once we hit trump it fell apart.
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