Inventing the "American Way": The Politics of Consensus from the New Deal to the Civil Rights Movement

by Wendy L. Wall

In the wake of World War II, Americans developed an unusually deep and all-encompassing national unity, as postwar affluence and the Cold War combined to naturally produce a remarkable level of agreement about the nation's core values. Or so the story has long been told. Inventing the "American Way" challenges this vision of inevitable consensus. Americans, as Wendy Wall argues in this innovative book, were united, not so much by identical beliefs, as by a shared conviction that a distinctive "American Way" existed and that the affirmation of such common ground was essential to the future of the nation. Moreover, the roots of consensus politics lie not in the Cold War era, but in the turbulent decade that preceded U.S. entry into World War II. The social and economic chaos of the Depression years alarmed a diverse array of groups, as did the rise of two "alien" ideologies: fascism and communism. In this context, Americans of divergent backgrounds and beliefs seized on the notion of a unifying "American Way" and sought to convince their fellow citizens of its merits.

Wall traces the competing efforts of business groups, politicians, leftist intellectuals, interfaith proponents, civil rights activists, and many others over nearly three decades to shape public understandings of the "American Way." Along the way, she explores the politics behind cultural productions ranging from The Adventures of Superman to the Freedom Train that circled the nation in the late 1940s. She highlights the intense debate that erupted over the term "democracy" after World War II, and identifies the origins of phrases such as "free enterprise" and the "Judeo-Christian tradition" that remain central to American political life. By uncovering the culture wars of the mid-twentieth century, this book sheds new light on a period that proved pivotal for American national identity and that remains the unspoken backdrop for debates over multiculturalism, national unity, and public values today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, American History, 20th Century, Historical

400 pages, Hardcover

First published January 18, 2007

Reviews

[Jim Gulley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an interesting cultural and political history of how American elite individuals and institutions influenced public opinion in the 20th century. Wall argues that the country’s mid-century consensus, as coined by the “American Way”, was a political contrivance, not a natural development. The two key struggles at the center of her story are the place of capitalism in the nation’s political economy and the cultural struggle between the white, Protestant founding and current multicultural population. The book is periodized between the Depression era, WWII, and the Cold War.

The term “democracy” carried political baggage during the era; therefore, the promulgators on the American Way preferred the theme of Freedom. Active citizenship, as defined by doing more civically than just voting and paying taxes, was promoted by these groups.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hard to rate with a number of stars here. It's a solid academic work that successfully accomplishes its goals, with a focus on domestic propaganda campaigns by big business and other elites to create the idea of common values that America needed to unite around (usually including an embrace of capitalism), but it's less than fully engaging and satisfying to me, as I think I wanted something a bit broader with more attention, perhaps, to patriarchy and gender roles, to the propagation and reinforcement of conformity through popular culture and more material mechanisms, and to the disciplining, punishing, and silencing of dissenters on any point of the supposed consensus.
Still a vital contribution, though.

[Emily Miller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting in parts but very dry and academic overall.

[Marcia Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very well researched, but extremely dry. Good overview of the American ideals from 1932-1965ish.