What is American Patriotism? What are its special roots? How can it be maintained? In his new book,
Making Patriots (May 2001, University of Chicago Press), Walter Berns addresses these difficult and urgent questions. Like all countries, America sometimes requires the devotion of its citizens and even the "last full measure of their devotion." Yet America is not like all other countries. It is founded on the concepts of equality and democracy--tenets that encourage individuality and autonomy far more readily than public spiritedness and self-sacrifice. How do self-interested individuals become patriots? Panelists will discuss this paradox and consider how American patriotism can be revived as we enter the twenty-first century.
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