ABSTRACT
The vision of America put forward by Samuel Huntington, says Amitai Etzioni, is the melting pot: All those who come should leave their native cultures at the door, and learn how to be true Americans. Louis Menand suggests most Americans would not recognize the Anglo-Protestants and their lofty political and philosophical value as what binds them to their country. He dispenses with Huntington's arguments, exposing legal shifts that led to the 'surge' in illegal immigration from Mexico, wondering at the use of the term 'deconstructionist' for figures like Bill Clinton, and questioning the conclusion at which Huntington arrives, which suggests that America's role as a global superpower is bad for national identity. Menand sees no danger in internationalism, and in fact sees isolationism, which he sees in Who Are We?, as precisely what squandered our moment of global support following 9/11, and therefore far more problematic than inclusion and engagement.
