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Hanging Together: Unity and Diversity in American Culture
This book presents three decades of writings by one of America’s most distinguished historians. John Higham, renowned for his influential works on immigration, ethnicity, political symbolism, and the writing of history, here traces the changing contours of American culture since its beginnings, focusing on the ways that an extraordinarily mobile society has allowed divergent ethnic, class, and ideological groups to “hang together” as Americans.
The book includes classic essays by Higham and more recent writings, some of which have been substantially revised for this publication. Topics range widely from the evolution of American national symbols and the fate of our national character to new perspectives on the New Deal, on other major turning points, and on changes in race relations after major American wars. Yet they are unified by an underlying that a heterogeneous society and an inclusive national culture need each other.
The book includes classic essays by Higham and more recent writings, some of which have been substantially revised for this publication. Topics range widely from the evolution of American national symbols and the fate of our national character to new perspectives on the New Deal, on other major turning points, and on changes in race relations after major American wars. Yet they are unified by an underlying that a heterogeneous society and an inclusive national culture need each other.
- GenresHistory
335 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 2001
27 people want to read
About the author
John Higham
14 books5 followersJohn William Higham (26 October 1920 - 26 July 2003) was an American historian, scholar of American culture and specialist on issues of ethnicity.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, Higham earned his undergraduate history degree from Johns Hopkins in 1941 and received a master's degree from Yale University in 1942. In World War II, he served with the historical division of the Army Air Corps in Italy. He married psychologist Eileen Moss Higham in 1948.
After serving as assistant editor of The American Mercury, he earned a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1949. He taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, Rutgers University, Columbia University and the University of Michigan before returning to Johns Hopkins in 1971.
He is noted for having described anti-Catholicism in the United States as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history".
Higham died of a cerebral aneurysm in Baltimore.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, Higham earned his undergraduate history degree from Johns Hopkins in 1941 and received a master's degree from Yale University in 1942. In World War II, he served with the historical division of the Army Air Corps in Italy. He married psychologist Eileen Moss Higham in 1948.
After serving as assistant editor of The American Mercury, he earned a doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1949. He taught at the University of California, Los Angeles, Rutgers University, Columbia University and the University of Michigan before returning to Johns Hopkins in 1971.
He is noted for having described anti-Catholicism in the United States as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history".
Higham died of a cerebral aneurysm in Baltimore.
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May 12, 2018
Higham delivers a fine set of essays, all focusing on diverse aspects of the development of American culture...the first essay, especially, is worth the price alone.
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