Who Are We: The Challenges to
Americas National Identity by Samuel
P. Huntington
Critical Questions, Compelling Answers
In his seminal work The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World
Order, Samuel Huntington argued provocatively and presciently that with
the end of the cold war, civilizations were replacing ideologies as the new
fault lines in international politics.Now in his controversial new work, Who
Are We?, Huntington focuses on an identity crisis closer to home as he
examines the impact other civilizations and their values are having on our
own country.America was founded by British settlers who brought with
them a distinct culture, says Huntington, including the English language,
Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for
law. The waves of immigrants that later came to the United States
gradually accepted these values and assimilated into Americas Anglo-
Protestant culture. More recently, however, our national identity has been
eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of primarily

Hispanic immigrants and challenged by issues such as bilingualism,
multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the denationalization of
American elites.September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism
and a renewal of American identity, but already there are signs that this
revival is fading. Huntington argues the need for us to reassert the core
values that make us Americans. Timely and thought-provoking, Who Are
We? is an important book that is certain to shape our national conversation
about who we are.
Personal Review: Who Are We: The Challenges to Americas
National Identity by Samuel P. Huntington
I have never been able to understand the American Dream. The one that is
supposed to attract the immigrants. I remember being asked some time
ago in a conversation with a native American, 'What brought you here?'
Before I was ready with an intellectually balanced answer, another native
American helped me, 'Wanted a better life, no?' I could not disagree more,
but by then I knew better than to argue with a view apparently shared by all
natives. I was an opportunist as charged.
Who Are We? is a well-documented, brilliant, honest and passionate book
about a dream that never came true and is slowly turning into a nightmare.
Huntington deplores the erosion of patriotism. I have seen at least three
brands of it in the countries I lived before and hope Huntington's fears are
true. He argues that the American patriotism is unlike others in that it is
built on the settlers' tradition of self-reliance, dissent and little trust for
government. That apparently does not make the American public more
immune to the herd instinct than any other nation. And examples abound
in his book.
Back to my conversations with natives, here's a recent one. I was
complaining to a colleague of mine that I did not come to America to
wallow in multiculturalist delights and accept collective guilt for being a
white male. I had enough multiculturalism in my East European cauldron. I
came here to get steeped in the very Anglo-Protestant values Huntington
talks about. Mind you, I feel a great spiritual affinity with those values.
Besides, why should I feel guilty? My ancestors did not profit from slave
labor. In fact, some of them were owned by landlords. And virtually all
judges and physicians in the defunct Soviet Empire, where I grew up, were
women.
My colleague was brief. 'Should America change to suit you better? Is that
what you want?'
That was before reading Huntington's book. I wholeheartedly agree with
him on the elites, who are engaged in a sustained effort to deconstruct
what America was meant to be. However, did he truly believe in the virtues
and steadiness of the American public? Any public, for that matter?

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