Make America What America Must Become: Loving Your Country Like James Baldwin
Jun 2027 · Princeton University Press
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About this ebook
“Great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become.”—James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
How James Baldwin redefines patriotism—and how he inspires us to love our country in a way that makes it better and freer for more people
Throughout his life, writer and activist James Baldwin professed—and demonstrated—his profound love of America. At the same time, he reimagined what patriotism might be. True love of country, Baldwin insists, demands that we look at our history truthfully, act to make the nation better, and envision what it might yet become. In Make America What America Must Become, Nicholas Buccola examines Baldwin’s life and writings to reflect on what it would mean to love America in his spirit.
Buccola explores Baldwin’s beliefs about love and love of country through his encounters with friends and rivals—including Martin Luther King Jr., Lorraine Hansberry, Beauford Delaney, Medgar Evers, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, William F. Buckley Jr., and Nikki Giovanni. What emerges is the story of how Baldwin came to believe that we love our country most when we confront its failings forthrightly but with empathy—and when we work with our compatriots to make it a place where more people can be free.
Powerful, provocative, and hopeful, Make America What America Must Become is a call to reclaim patriotism from those who have distorted and misused it for so long.
How James Baldwin redefines patriotism—and how he inspires us to love our country in a way that makes it better and freer for more people
Throughout his life, writer and activist James Baldwin professed—and demonstrated—his profound love of America. At the same time, he reimagined what patriotism might be. True love of country, Baldwin insists, demands that we look at our history truthfully, act to make the nation better, and envision what it might yet become. In Make America What America Must Become, Nicholas Buccola examines Baldwin’s life and writings to reflect on what it would mean to love America in his spirit.
Buccola explores Baldwin’s beliefs about love and love of country through his encounters with friends and rivals—including Martin Luther King Jr., Lorraine Hansberry, Beauford Delaney, Medgar Evers, Robert F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, William F. Buckley Jr., and Nikki Giovanni. What emerges is the story of how Baldwin came to believe that we love our country most when we confront its failings forthrightly but with empathy—and when we work with our compatriots to make it a place where more people can be free.
Powerful, provocative, and hopeful, Make America What America Must Become is a call to reclaim patriotism from those who have distorted and misused it for so long.
“Great men have done great things here, and will again, and we can make America what America must become.”—James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time
How James Baldwin redefines patriotism—and how he inspires us to love our country in a way that makes it better and freer for more people
Throughout his l...
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About the author
Nicholas Buccola is the Dr. Jules L. Whitehill Professor of Humanism and Ethics in the Department of Government at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author of The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America and One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King, and the Struggle over an American Ideal. He is a coeditor of The Princeton History of American Political Thought.
Nicholas Buccola is the Dr. Jules L. Whitehill Professor of Humanism and Ethics in the Department of Government at Claremont McKenna College. He is the author of The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America and One Man’s Freedom: Goldwater, King,...
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