American exceptionalism and American innocence : a people's history of fake news-- from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror

American exceptionalism and American innocence A people's history of fake news-- from the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror

Roberto Sirvent

Book - 2019

The convenient stories we're told to make us think the U.S. is actually a force for good in the world. Did the U.S. really "save the world" in World War II? Should black athletes stop protesting and have more gratitude for what America has done for them? Are wars fought to spread freedom and democracy? Or is this all fake news? American Exceptionalism and American Innocence examines the stories we're told that lead us to think that the U.S. is a force for good in the world, regardless of slavery, the genocide of indigenous people, and the more than a century's worth of imperialist war that the U.S. has wrought on the planet. Sirvent and Haiphong detail just what Captain America's shield tells us about the prete...nsions of U.S. Foreign policy, how Angelina Jolie and Bill Gates engage in humanitarian imperialism, and why the Broadway musical Hamilton is a monument to white supremacy.--Jacket.

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Subjects
National characteristics, American > Political aspects.
Exceptionalism > United States.
Fake news > United States.
Press and politics > United States > History.
Nationalism > History.
Americanization.
United States > Foreign relations > Psychological aspects.
Published
New York, NY : Skyhorse Publishing [2019]
Language
English
Main Author
Roberto Sirvent (author)
Other Authors
Danny Haiphong (author)
Physical Description
xxviii, 322 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 259-309) and index.
ISBN
9781510742369
  • Foreword
  • Introduction
  • 1. "'Why Do They Hate Us?' American Innocence and Historical Memory"
  • 2. "Conquest, Genocide, and the Formation of America"
  • 3. "Was the Revolutionary War Revolutionary for Slaves? A Few Thoughts on Slavery and Its Afterlives"
  • 4. "Did the United States Really Save the World? Remembering and Misremembering World War II"
  • 5. "The Korean War: An Endless War Forgotten in the Haze of American Exceptionalism"
  • 6. "Charlottesville and the Real Monuments to White Supremacy"
  • 7. "The American Dream versus American Reality: Black Wealth and the Myth of Meritocracy"
  • 8. "Should U.S. Imperialism Matter to Black Lives Matter?"
  • 9. "Protecting Whose Speech? Protecting Whose Assembly?"
  • 10. "Am I an Ungrateful Son of a Bitch?"
  • 11. "A Rising Tide or a Sinking Ship? American Economic Decline and the rise of the Unexceptional Majority
  • 12. "'We can't have the inmates running the prison': Black Labor, White Enjoyment, and the Billionaire Capitalist Class"
  • 13. "Is American Aid' Assistance or Theft? The Case of Africa"
  • 14. "Does the U.S. Really Care about Human Rights?"
  • 15. "Humanitarian Impulses: The American Corporate Media and the White Savior Mentality"
  • 16. "If It's Bad, Blame Russia"
  • 17. "Saving American Exceptionalism: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and the Politics of Inclusion"
  • 18. "The Violence of Inclusion"
  • 19. "Flags, Flyovers, and Rituals: On Giving Your Body to the State"
  • 20. "Questioning Borders, Belonging, and the Nation-State"
  • 21. Conclusion: "Who Exactly Does the Military Serve?"
  • Afterword
  • Endnotes
  • Index

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