Who Are We?: The Challenges to America's National Identity

by Samuel P. Huntington

Book Overview

In his seminal work The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, Samuel Huntington argued provocatively and presciently that with the end of the cold war, "civilizations" were replacing ideologies as the new fault lines in international politics.

Now in his controversial new work, Who Are We?, Huntington focuses on an identity crisis closer to home as he examines the impact other civilizations and their...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684870541
• ISBN13: 9780684870540
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Packed With Knowledge!

If this provocative book does not generate controversy, it will mean something truly dreadful is filling the headlines and news broadcasts. Author Samuel P. Huntington is willing to say flat out that the white, Anglo-Protestant culture of the United States was important and valuable, and is now endangered. Yet Huntington is not mired in some white-washed past. He's a respected political scientist with an endowed chair at Harvard. His views are not extreme. On the contrary, the vast majority of the American people probably share them, even if they cannot articulate them in Huntington's elite language. He explains the historic evolution of the American identity and the American Creed, and describes their past, present and future in value-based terms. He'll keep you intrigued whether you disagree with his treatise or embrace it as justification for your discomfort, at the least, or your anger and fear, at the most. Whatever your prejudices, dispositions or inclinations about the trends in American society and cultural values, we believe this is a book worth reading.

Thoughtful and Well-Sourced

Who Are We? is both thoughtful and opinionated in a well researched, annotated, sourced and documented way. The main themes are:1. We are a nation that started as a group of dissenting English Protestant settlers who believed that one's Salvation was dependant on one's own actions and that success or failure was the responsibility of the individual through his own hard work. 2. We are a religious people, both historically and currently. Our belief in a deity has been consistent since colonial times and there have been several "great awakenings" reestablishing the primacy of religious attitudes in America. Our views on religion are different from those of Europeans whose religiousity has been dilluted or eroded over the years. 3. Immigration when combined with assimilation is good, but Mexican-American immigration has created problems due to lack of assimilation, lack of shared values including the Calvinist ethic and failure to consider themselves American rather than Mexican. According to Huntington, some of this is due to deliberate actions of the Mexican government in an attempt to export their unemployed to the U.S. and to import at least some of the wages those exported receive to Mexico. Also, in Huntington's view Mexico is using their expatriate community to influence U.S. policy to the benefit of Mexico. Some of his data is disturbing. For example he documents a decline in college attendence for third and fourth generation Mexican-Americans as well as a corresponding lack of their movement into the professions. 4. Elites, cosmopolitans, deconstructionists, one-worlders, academics, and governmental authorities are out of touch with the views of "average' Americans who still view the world in terms of nationality and believe in the 'American dream'. He sums up with comments reflective of his earlier The Clash Of Civilizations And The New World Order saying that we have a choice about America's role in the world whether it is cosmopolitan, imperial, or national. In all, it was well documented,worth reading, and not racist or anti-immigration as some reviewers have claimed.

What the elite don't want to hear...

Franklin's quip "if you don't listen to reason she will surely rap your knuckles".....comes to mind when reading this book. As with "Clash Of Civilizations" Hunting methodically points out trends the elite don't want to hear- they would rather embrace abstract notions like "the end of history". In "Who Are We" Huntington illustrates how American identity is eroding - and how this is pushed by an elite who by and large are out of touch with the rest of America. The consequences are catostrophic - if the current trends continue a large part of America will be 'hispanisized' - a de facto separate country.He also points out that the more extensive arguements of Carol Swain, that White (or European) ethinic activism will grow if the pandering to other ethnic groups continue. It's not hard to see that the current levels of immigration and the increased ethinic fragmentation are not sustainable trends.Huntington backs up his thesis with careful research, expert analsyis, and the obvious, but overlooked- the direct quotes of the people who are advocating the destruction of our Anglo-Protestant core.

A Conservative with a Conscience

When I told friends in 1999 that I had read Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations", they called it a crazy and far fetched book. We then had 9-11 and people were told to better understand the issue they should read "Clash of Civilizations". One of the American trends today is that we look at our investments, policies, etc on short term trends. We also have a trend that states any new idea that goes against the grain of our political philosophy we should attack regardless of whether that idea has merit.This book will be attacked just like "Clash of Civilizations". Reading some of these reviews illlustrates that their is a divide in our country based upon what we stand for today. In a political campaign these issues can not be answered in a 30 second sound bite or a debate in which a candidate has been prepped to stick to a message or a sound bite. It requires a thoughtful discussion among communites around the nation. To dismiss the book on the grounds that we do not have a problem would be foolish. To say that this book is absolutely on the mark or the author is clarivoyant would also be a mistake.I highly recommend this book for people to read. Do not follow conventional trends of listening to a conservative talk show host or getting your information strictly from National Public Radio.

As insightful as "Clash of Civilizations"

Back in 1993, Huntington's seminal article in Foreign Affairs "The Clash of Civilizations" was prescient about the violent clash between Islam and the West. It better explained the causes of 9/11 than most books written after 9/11! Now, Huntington's focus has turned inward to the changing identity of American society. He considers that the demographic explosion of Mexicans within the U.S. is causing a Clash of Civilizations within our borders. This is not going to be a destructive clash as the one with Islam. Nevertheless, Huntington suggests it may alter the identity of the U.S.Huntington states that the U.S. identity is the result of an Anglo-Protestant culture characterized by the English language, the rule of law, work ethic, education, and upward mobility. This entails that each generation has aspired to achieve a higher standard of living. Immigrants from all over the World have adopted this Anglo-Saxon creed as their own road to success. Generations of Europeans, and Asians adopted the English language as a mean to thrive within American society. However, according to Huntington, Mexicans are different. Mexican immigration differs from past immigration due to a combination of factors, including: proximity, scale, regional concentration, and historical presence. Mexico is a large country contiguous to the U.S. with a huge population of 100 million. Mexicans infiltrate the porous U.S. border in unprecedented numbers. Thus, Mexicans dominate the influx of emigrants to the U.S. They also tend to settle in Border States. By 2050 Hispanics are projected to represent 25% of the U.S. population. Today they already account for over 32% of the population in California and Texas. Many Mexicans view their infiltration within the U.S. as their regaining territorial claims they had lost to the U.S. in the mid 1800s. Huntington states there are serious implications to the Mexicanization of parts of the U.S. Hispanics, including Mexicans, unlike other immigrants, do not buy into the Anglo-Protestant creed of our founding settlers. Asians moved to the U.S. and faced formidable linguistic barriers, as their mother tongue was so different from a Western language. But, they did not think this was a problem. However, Hispanics thinks it is. They promote a bilingual country. Over time, they will demand bilingual education, and bilingual political access and power. Huntington's arguments are challenging because they are well founded. Huntington mentions that Mexicans do not believe in the Anglo-Protestant creed on several counts. Contrary to other minorities, Mexicans do not buy into education as a road to success. He has studied the educational profile of Mexicans. He noticed that Mexicans' education levels across generations are actually declining. The fourth generation descendents of Mexican immigrants (the great grand children of the first immigrants) are less well educated than the third generation. Only 9.6% of Mexicans earn a