Reviewed by:

• Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism by Ben Railton
• Brian Whetstone

The tumultuous administration of Donald Trump and ensuing initiatives to examine American history and identity, such as Nikole Hannah-Jones's 1619 Project, have produced extensive public and academic conversations about American patriotism and identity. Ben Railton's Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism intervenes in these scholarly and popular debates, tracing the history of American patriotism from the American Revolutionary era to the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s before concluding with a reflection on patriotism in the age of Trump. Railton's method reflects his background in English and American literature as he draws upon the writings and cultural works of a diverse spectrum of Americans across the nation's history, including such disparate works as Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the passionate appeal of Ponca chief Standing Bear in his 1879 trial, and the Wizard of Oz to underscore the appeal of patriotic sentiments across time. Less interested in rooting his analysis in original archival research, Of Thee I Sing works well as a broad synthesis of secondary literature on American patriotism, and Railton's accompanying Note on Sources will surely serve as a useful entry point for students and scholars of American identity looking to expand their research beyond Railton's overview.

Railton identifies four varieties of United States patriotism: celebratory, mythic, active, and critical. Celebratory patriotism encompasses actions and shared rituals like the national anthem invested in portraying the US uncrit ically as the "greatest country in the world." Mythic patriotism, Railton argues, is the most dangerous because it generates mythologized narratives about the past that increasingly divided the US into communities perceived to belong to an idealized nation and "those overtly and violently excluded from it." In contrast to celebratory and mythic patriotism, active and critical patriotism constitute more constructive and inclusive patriotic impulses. The former involves active commitments to the US such as military service, social activism, and protest, while the latter stems from a desire to right historical wrongs and drive the country to live up to its high ideals for all Americans. Railton devotes considerable attention to developments in the Great Plains, particularly westward expansion, that generated expressions of critical patriotism, such as the works of Helen Hunt Jackson in the nineteenth century and the American Indian Movement in the late twentieth century.

While Railton's work succeeds at introducing readers to a wide cast of historical actors, his analysis and insistence on dividing patriotism into four primary expressions tends to oversimplify complex historical developments. While characters come and go through each of the eras Railton analyzes, the four varieties of patriotism are unyielding and unchanging, presenting American history as one timeless, unchanging struggle between those who subscribe to celebratory and mythic forms of patriotism and those who place faith in active and critical patriotism. Despite this oversimplification, Of Thee I Sing still offers an important historical intervention into contemporary debates about American patriotism, nationalism, and identity. [End Page 111]

审核人：

• 我为你歌唱：本·雷尔顿 (Ben Railton) 的美国爱国主义有争议的历史
• 布赖恩·惠斯通

唐纳德·特朗普的动荡政府和随之而来的审查美国历史和身份的举措，例如 Nikole Hannah-Jones 的1619 项目，已经引发了关于美国爱国主义和身份的广泛的公众和学术对话。本·雷尔顿 (Ben Railton) 的《我为你歌唱》：有争议的美国爱国主义历史介入这些学术和大众辩论，追溯美国爱国主义的历史，从美国革命时代到 80 年代的里根革命，最后反思特朗普时代的爱国主义。雷尔顿的方法反映了他在英国和美国文学方面的背景，因为他借鉴了整个国家历史上不同类型的美国人的著作和文化作品，包括亚伯拉罕林肯的葛底斯堡演说等不同的作品，庞卡酋长 Standing Bear 在他的1879 年的审判和绿野仙踪强调了跨越时间的爱国情怀的号召力。对将他的分析根植于原始档案研究不太感兴趣，我唱的是你作为关于美国爱国主义的二手文献的广泛综合，Railton 随附的 Note on Sources 肯定会成为美国身份的学生和学者的有用切入点，他们希望将他们的研究扩展到 Railton 的概述之外。

雷尔顿确定了美国爱国主义的四种类型：庆祝型、神话型、积极型和批判型。庆祝爱国主义包括行动和共同的仪式，例如国歌投资于不加批判地将美国描绘成“世界上最伟大的国家”。雷尔顿认为，神话般的爱国主义是最危险的，因为它产生了关于过去的神话化叙事，使美国越来越分裂为被认为属于理想化国家的社区和“那些被公然和暴力排除在外的人”。与庆祝和神话般的爱国主义相比，积极和批判的爱国主义构成了更具建设性和包容性的爱国冲动。前者涉及对美国的积极承诺，例如服兵役、社会活动和抗议，而后者则源于纠正历史错误并推动国家实现其对所有美国人的崇高理想的愿望。雷尔顿相当关注大平原的发展，尤其是向西扩张，这引发了批判性爱国主义的表达，例如 19 世纪海伦亨特杰克逊的作品和 20 世纪末的美洲印第安人运动。

虽然雷尔顿的作品成功地向读者介绍了广泛的历史人物，但他将爱国主义分为四种主要表达方式的分析和坚持往往过于简单化了复杂的历史发展。虽然人物在 Railton 分析的每个时代来来去去，但四种爱国主义是不屈不挠和不变的，将美国历史呈现为一场永恒不变的斗争，在那些赞同庆祝和神话形式的爱国主义的人与那些相信积极的爱国主义的人之间和批判的爱国主义。尽管过于简单化，《我歌唱你》仍然对当代关于美国爱国主义、民族主义和身份认同的辩论提供了重要的历史干预。【111页完】