{"product_id":"union-the-struggle-to-forge-the-story-of-united-states-nationhood-9780525560173","title":"Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood","description":"\u003cb\u003eA \u003ci\u003eChristian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e best book of 2020\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Relentlessly accessible. . . . This is that rare history that tells what influential thinkers failed to think, what famous writers left unwritten.\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e--Jill Leovy, \u003ci\u003eThe American Scholar\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eBy the bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Nations\u003c\/i\u003e, the story of how the myth of U.S. national unity was created and fought over in the nineteenth century--a myth that continues to affect us today\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eUnion\u003c\/i\u003e tells the story of the struggle to create a national myth for the United States, one that could hold its rival regional cultures together and forge an American nationhood. On one hand, a small group of individuals--historians, political leaders, and novelists--fashioned and promoted the idea of America as nation that had a God-given mission to lead humanity toward freedom, equality, and self-government. But this emerging narrative was swiftly contested by another set of intellectuals and firebrands who argued that the United States was instead the homeland of the allegedly superior \"Anglo-Saxon\" race, upon whom divine and Darwinian favor shined. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eColin Woodard tells the story of the genesis and epic confrontations between these visions of our nation's path and purpose through the lives of the key figures who created them, a cast of characters whose personal quirks and virtues, gifts and demons shaped the destiny of millions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eColin Woodard\u003c\/b\u003e, a \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestselling author and historian, is the state and national affairs writer at the \u003ci\u003ePortland Press Herald\u003c\/i\u003e, where he received a 2012 George Polk Award and was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting. A longtime foreign correspondent for \u003ci\u003eThe Christian Science Monitor\u003c\/i\u003e and the\u003ci\u003e San Francisco Chronicle\u003c\/i\u003e, he has reported from more than fifty foreign countries and six continents. His work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003e The Washington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Economist\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSmithsonian, Politico\u003c\/i\u003e, and dozens of other publications. A graduate of Tufts University and the University of Chicago, he is the author of \u003ci\u003eAmerican Nations\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Character\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Lobster Coast\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Republic of Pirates\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eOcean's End\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Maine.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Penguin Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50380510789906,"sku":"9780525560173","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_ea9699a6-0621-4800-994e-f52cfa3092a4.jpg?v=1728683382","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/union-the-struggle-to-forge-the-story-of-united-states-nationhood-9780525560173","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}