Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1992. In this collection of essays, Philip Gleason explores the different linguistic tools that American scholars have used to write about ethnicity in the United States and analyzes how various vocabularies have played out in the political sphere. In doing this, he reveals tensions between terms used by academic groups and those preferred by the people whom the academics discuss. Gleason unpacks words and phrasessuch as melting pot and pluralityused to visualize the multitude of ethnicities in the United States. And he examines debates over concepts such as assimilation, national character, oppressed group, and people of color. Gleason advocates for greater clarity of these concepts when discussed in America's national political arena. Gleason's essays are grouped into three parts. Part 1 focuses on linguistic analyses of specific terms. Part 2 examines the effect of World War II on national identity and American thought about diversity and intergroup relations
Trade ReviewThis collection succeeds authoritatively in clearing the semantic ground on which one of the most tortured and divisive of American debates still rages.
—Kate Fullbrook,
Journal of American StudiesA major interpretation of modern American nationalism that deserves a wide readership . . . Careful surveys of the contested histories of such critical terms in the American conversation about diversity as 'melting pot' (where his essays have already been widely cited in the field), 'pluralism,' 'assimilation,' 'minority,' 'identity,' and culture.'.
—Terrence J. McDonald,
Reviews in American HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction
Part I: Coming to Terms with Ethnicity
Chapter 1. The Melting Pot: Symbol of Fusion or Confusion?
Chapter 2. Confusion Compounded: A Melting Pot Update
Chapter 3. The Odd Couple: Pluralism and Assimilation
Chapter 4. Minorities (Almost) All
Chapter 5. Identifying Identity: A Semantic History
Part II: World War II and American Identity
Chapter 6. Americans All
Chapter 7. The Study of American Culture
Chapter 8. Pluralism, Democracy, and Catholicism: Religious Tensions
Part III: Religion and American Diversity
Chapter 9. Hansen, Herberg, and American Religion
Chapter 10. Immigration, Religion, and Civil Religion
Chapter 11. "Americanism" in American Catholic Discourse
Index
