Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-247) and index.
Introduction: 9/11--A challenge to American culture -- American national culture: A matter of culture and history -- What is The American culture and what is a "typical" American? -- Melting pots to mosaics: race and immigration -- From John Winthrop to John Wayne: Exceptionalism, self-reliance, and cowboy values -- "Don't just stand there, do something!" -- American civic culture -- Prosperity at home, prestige abroad: foreign policy -- What holds America together also tears it apart -- A national midlife crisis? Where do we go from here?
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"America's Midlife Crisis examines the culture of America at a crucial point in its history and development. Along the way something happened to the fundamental nature of American culture: a midlife crisis. From the founding of the republic through the many conflicts over the years, from the Puritan roots to recent waves of immigration, from race to religion, America's Midlife Crisis examines the values, beliefs and behavior of an increasingly complex society that is struggling with its place in 1 the new world order." "There has been a seismic shift, far beyond normal cyclic changes, in cultural and political trends in the United States. Following 9/11 - no longer as confident in the protection of two vast oceans, a powerful military structure and a dominant economy - the U.S. government instituted polities and practices that have produced results exactly opposite of what was intended. Rather than making America safer, they have generated great consternation about its intentions, further enraging America's critics and confusing and alienating its longtime allies. America's Midlife Crisis shows how a superpower got to this point and what this midlife crisis means for the nation's future."--Jacket.