ABSTRACT
It is also important to note, as a subset of the second point, how unusual it is for a nation to become so strongly committed to a history not directly its own. By the late 19th century, most countries were busily organizing historical training into national categories, in order to instill patriotism. This occurred in the United States, and in some instances the emphasis on American history preempted Western civ (largely the case in Texas, for example). But for many educators, and in their wake some segments of the public, American history by itself seemed too narrow, too purely recent, and so the commitment to Western civ, though technically foreign, developed as a complement. This point, too, can be explored, and, of course, it is vital to understand why American conservatives today, so strongly nationalist in most respects, place such weight on the Western civ tradition.
