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candylovegirl's review against another edition
4.0
Sexton is a fantastic writer and is able to make what could be considered “boring” history interesting. We all know the stories of how America was founded and the pivotal moments in our history. What is interesting is to see them all lined up one after the other and you start to see the common thread that has led us to where we are now. We, the people, must contest the political play and demand that changes continue to be made to improve our nation.
dsuttles's review against another edition
4.0
A difficult must-read for my fellow Americans, especially those who care about our gasping, desiccated sham of a democracy. Jared Yates Sexton is a journalist who turns an eye to history in order to help us understand our current crises. American Rule is a rehash of our country's story so we can connect the dots.
Prior to reading, I was not ignorant to the brutal realities of American genocide, warmongering, colonialism, racist oppression, and slavery... and yet I was still surprised by what I learned. My high school textbooks definitely didn't teach me what a virulent eugenicist Woodrow Wilson was, for one example. The more you read American Rule, the more it becomes clear why some presidents' legacies get skimmed over as unremarkable or otherwise sanitized in our public education curriculum (because of how malignantly irredeemable they are -- I'm looking at you Andrew Jackson) and how others are lionized (in spite of policies and beliefs that range from tepid and insufficient to downright condemnable). I won't go into all the details in my review -- not because I'm ironically avoiding spoilers, but because it really is through Sexton's chronological brick-laying of facts and events that the reader comes to understand firsthand how we get from U to S to A. It is truly disgraceful how we have watered down, deleted, rewritten, and romanticized America's "days of yore."
Perhaps the most important accomplishment of this book is countering the myth we frequently hear today in response to the blatant ugliness of Trumpism: This isn't America. It usually comes in the form of, "This is not who we really are. We're better than this. This isn't what our Founding Fathers stood for. Think of our values." These statements sound hollow when looking at the evidence of history. They ignore the inherent contradiction that is America. We are a nation that was built on empty platitudes, which were manipulated and twisted to serve an elite and wealthy minority. Real people - particularly BIPOC -were slaughtered, tortured, and victimized every step of the way to achieve that end. This truth has shaped our society and made its mark on generations of Americans from its 18th century origins to the present. Indeed, the cries otherwise bear an uncanny resemblance to the mantra they seek to oppose, the one chanted by Trump supporters themselves: "Make America Great Again."
It may be hard to look truth in the face, especially when it is so gloomy and dark. A lighter, cleaner fantasy is so much more compelling. America has only been "great" insomuch as the gargantuan degree of global power it has wielded over the last couple centuries and how much it has abused that power to the harm of both its own citizens and the peoples of the world. To say otherwise is to write fiction. But as Sexton so movingly and passionately writes in the epilogue, if we can confront our reality, be honest with ourselves about our hypocrisies and our harms, then we can truly do the work of redressing the rot and creating a society that does function with our prized democratic ideals not just in mind, but in action.
Prior to reading, I was not ignorant to the brutal realities of American genocide, warmongering, colonialism, racist oppression, and slavery... and yet I was still surprised by what I learned. My high school textbooks definitely didn't teach me what a virulent eugenicist Woodrow Wilson was, for one example. The more you read American Rule, the more it becomes clear why some presidents' legacies get skimmed over as unremarkable or otherwise sanitized in our public education curriculum (because of how malignantly irredeemable they are -- I'm looking at you Andrew Jackson) and how others are lionized (in spite of policies and beliefs that range from tepid and insufficient to downright condemnable). I won't go into all the details in my review -- not because I'm ironically avoiding spoilers, but because it really is through Sexton's chronological brick-laying of facts and events that the reader comes to understand firsthand how we get from U to S to A. It is truly disgraceful how we have watered down, deleted, rewritten, and romanticized America's "days of yore."
Perhaps the most important accomplishment of this book is countering the myth we frequently hear today in response to the blatant ugliness of Trumpism: This isn't America. It usually comes in the form of, "This is not who we really are. We're better than this. This isn't what our Founding Fathers stood for. Think of our values." These statements sound hollow when looking at the evidence of history. They ignore the inherent contradiction that is America. We are a nation that was built on empty platitudes, which were manipulated and twisted to serve an elite and wealthy minority. Real people - particularly BIPOC -were slaughtered, tortured, and victimized every step of the way to achieve that end. This truth has shaped our society and made its mark on generations of Americans from its 18th century origins to the present. Indeed, the cries otherwise bear an uncanny resemblance to the mantra they seek to oppose, the one chanted by Trump supporters themselves: "Make America Great Again."
It may be hard to look truth in the face, especially when it is so gloomy and dark. A lighter, cleaner fantasy is so much more compelling. America has only been "great" insomuch as the gargantuan degree of global power it has wielded over the last couple centuries and how much it has abused that power to the harm of both its own citizens and the peoples of the world. To say otherwise is to write fiction. But as Sexton so movingly and passionately writes in the epilogue, if we can confront our reality, be honest with ourselves about our hypocrisies and our harms, then we can truly do the work of redressing the rot and creating a society that does function with our prized democratic ideals not just in mind, but in action.
drewsome_'s review against another edition
3.25
A tremendous who’s who of American crimes, but doesn’t quite live up to the subtitle. Readers should know it has much more breadth than depth
the1germ's review against another edition
4.0
An easily digestible and succinct history of American myths, dating back from the constitution to the current day. It details why those myths were constructed, how they were deployed, the link between evangelicalism and American exceptionalism, and how it's all lead to where we are now. Equally critical of the left as it is the right. I learned a lot reading this book.
antiherov's review against another edition
5.0
An absolutely crucial read on American society and its inherent distinctions.
revderek77's review against another edition
5.0
Required reading during these tumultuous political times, especially for theologian/clergy types. Writing from a secular perspective, Jared pulls back the curtain on the American mythos and the way Christianity has been exploited to form an American civil religion since the first days of the revolution.
He is also the only one so far that has offered an analysis of Trumpism that is both deep and convincing. He has his finger on the pulse of the fascism that is coursing its way through the country, and I'll be following him closely to see what he has to say in coming years.
He is also the only one so far that has offered an analysis of Trumpism that is both deep and convincing. He has his finger on the pulse of the fascism that is coursing its way through the country, and I'll be following him closely to see what he has to say in coming years.