The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society by Arthur Meier Schlesinger

Acclaimed historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. strikes a blow against radical multiculturalism. The classic image of the American nation ― a melting pot in which differences of race, wealth, religion, and nationality are submerged in democracy ― is being replaced by an orthodoxy that celebrates difference and abandons assimilation. The rising cult of ethnicity, he argues, threatens a common American identity, imperiling the civic ideals that traditionally have bonded immigrants into a nation. Various chapters criticize bilingual education, Afrocentrism, and the use of history as group therapy for minorities. Schlesinger, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in history, raised eyebrows when he first published this book in 1992 because of his impeccable liberal credentials as a one-time assistant to President Kennedy and long-standing academic champion of FDR’s New Deal.