For those who missed the conference or who missed the final plenary, I offer a couple of photos. Above and to the left, Ben Alpers introduces Mike O’Connor who chaired the plenary. Above and to the right, the panel: (L-R) Eric Foner, Beth Bailey, Michael Kazin, and Rogers Smith.
The idea for the plenary sprang from a post of Ben’s and took shape under Mike’s direction. The turn out was solid for a Friday evening in NYC. A lively question and answer session followed an interesting exchange among the panelists.
Of the many themes addressed over a couple of hours, two stayed with me: all the panelists made note of the need to place whatever might be considered American exceptionalism in an international context. To that end, Eric Foner mentioned Ian Tyrell’s work a few times. See Tyrrell’s website.
The other theme was the production of usable myths that accord with ideas of American exceptionalism–a point raised most clearly and succinctly by Beth Bailey. I have wondered in posts on this blog what Americans think the American military is doing when it goes overseas, and what the nation’s soldiers think they are killing and dying for, if not for a theology of American exceptionalism?
While I have argued that civil religion covers this idea more comprehensively, Beth Bailey made some very serious points regarding the construction and consequences of ideas wrapped up in the exceptionalist narrative.
One Thought on this Post
S-USIH Comment Policy
We ask that those who participate in the discussions generated in the Comments section do so with the same decorum as they would in any other academic setting or context. Since the USIH bloggers write under our real names, we would prefer that our commenters also identify themselves by their real name. As our primary goal is to stimulate and engage in fruitful and productive discussion, ad hominem attacks (personal or professional), unnecessary insults, and/or mean-spiritedness have no place in the USIH Blog’s Comments section. Therefore, we reserve the right to remove any comments that contain any of the above and/or are not intended to further the discussion of the topic of the post. We welcome suggestions for corrections to any of our posts. As the official blog of the Society of US Intellectual History, we hope to foster a diverse community of scholars and readers who engage with one another in discussions of US intellectual history, broadly understood.
I wonder if Christopher Hitchens was secretly in the crowd at the Final Plenary? – TL