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A review by lukenotjohn
The Myth of the American Dream: Reflections on Affluence, Autonomy, Safety, and Power by D.L. Mayfield
4.0
I loved Mayfield's first book, [b:Assimilate or Go Home: Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith|27213189|Assimilate or Go Home Notes from a Failed Missionary on Rediscovering Faith|D.L. Mayfield|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1452463966l/27213189._SY75_.jpg|47255176] and had high hopes for this one too. Having read both, I'd describe them as fraternal twins; in ways identical enough that an essay from one could be swapped for the other, and both obviously rooted in her experience as a white post-evangelical woman living and working in proximity with refugees in an American context, but there are some subtle differences. The first book felt more intimate in some ways, closer to the center of the memoir genre and thus exploring the impact on Mayfield's particular life, faith, and outlook on the world. This book feels a bit more outwardly focused, explicitly tackling the ways those observations ripple out with implications for our world at large. However, I was a bit surprised that the contrast wasn't sharper between them, and I personally think that approaching the structure or organization of the book slightly differently could've improved it. Because it's a collection of essays rather than a series of chapters, the arguments don't necessarily build but often repeat, which felt a bit clunky at times (I found this especially true in the first section, "Affluence.")
With my primary critique out of the way, I definitely appreciated, enjoyed, and have already recommended the book to others. I think Mayfield's thesis is spot on and a necessary corrective to the American civil religion that runs rampant throughout the Christian landscape. Through a combination of research, theological reflection, and anecdotal evidence from her own life, she does an excellent job of critiquing the cultural pillars of affluence, autonomy, safety, and power that essentially operate as unchecked idols. Mayfield locates herself, at times begrudgingly or with stressed (a cynic might say feigned) humility, as a prophet and a poet of our current context. Her writing, shaped by her experiences being "led by exiles" through close relationship with her refugee neighbors, is a righteously angry critique of America's systemically sinful past and present, a grieving lament of the countless ways it fails to be the nation its myths purport it to be, and also a poem that shimmers at the edges of beauty and celebration in hopes of sowing seeds for a different world where flourishing for all is within reach. This is most poignantly communicated in the essay "Waking Up Sad," which was my favorite of the collection and worth the price of the book itself.
With my primary critique out of the way, I definitely appreciated, enjoyed, and have already recommended the book to others. I think Mayfield's thesis is spot on and a necessary corrective to the American civil religion that runs rampant throughout the Christian landscape. Through a combination of research, theological reflection, and anecdotal evidence from her own life, she does an excellent job of critiquing the cultural pillars of affluence, autonomy, safety, and power that essentially operate as unchecked idols. Mayfield locates herself, at times begrudgingly or with stressed (a cynic might say feigned) humility, as a prophet and a poet of our current context. Her writing, shaped by her experiences being "led by exiles" through close relationship with her refugee neighbors, is a righteously angry critique of America's systemically sinful past and present, a grieving lament of the countless ways it fails to be the nation its myths purport it to be, and also a poem that shimmers at the edges of beauty and celebration in hopes of sowing seeds for a different world where flourishing for all is within reach. This is most poignantly communicated in the essay "Waking Up Sad," which was my favorite of the collection and worth the price of the book itself.