Behold, America
The Entangled History of "America First" and "the American Dream"
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Behold, America
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Narrated by:
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Anne Twomey
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Written by:
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Sarah Churchwell
About this listen
A Smithsonian Magazine Best History Book of 2018
The unknown history of two ideas crucial to the struggle over what America stands for.
In Behold, America, Sarah Churchwell offers a surprising account of 20th-century Americans' fierce battle for the nation's soul. It follows the stories of two phrases - the "American dream" and "America First" - that once embodied opposing visions for America.
Starting as a Republican motto before becoming a hugely influential isolationist slogan during World War I, America First was always closely linked with authoritarianism and white supremacy. The American dream, meanwhile, initially represented a broad vision of democratic and economic equality. Churchwell traces these notions through the 1920s boom, the Depression, and the rise of fascism at home and abroad, laying bare the persistent appeal of demagoguery in America and showing us how it was resisted.
At a time when many ask what America's future holds, Behold, America is a revelatory, unvarnished portrait of where we have been.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2018 Sarah Churchwell (P)2018 Hachette AudioWhat the critics say
"The most intriguing aspect of the book is Churchwell's charting of how 'The American Dream' in the past connoted something less materialistic and more collective than is now the case.... [A] fascinating history." (Independent)
"Behold, America is an enthralling book, almost a primer for the ferocious dialectic of US politics, inspired by the events of 2015/16. It will no doubt take an influential place on a teeming shelf of Trump-lit. Much of its force derives from the echoes of the present it finds in the thunderous caverns of the past, blurred by the distortions of history. Passionate, well-researched and comprehensive, it is both a document of our times and a thrilling survey of a half-forgotten and neglected dimension of the American story." (Guardian)
"[A] richly engaging account of the expressions "the American Dream" and "America First"...Behold, America is enormously entertaining. Churchwell is a careful and sensitive reader, writes with great vigour and has a magpie's eye for a revealing story." (Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times)