Bøger af Peter W. Wood

Peter Wood argues against the flawed interpretation of history found in the New York Times’ 1619 Project and asserts that the true origins of American self-government were enshrined in the Mayflower Compact in 1620."1620 is a dispassionate, clear reminder that the best in America’s past is still America’s best future." —Amity Shlaes, chair, Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation"Peter Wood’s pushback against the 1619 Project is at once sharp, illuminating, entertaining, and profound." —Stanley Kurtz, senior fellow, Ethics and Public Policy CenterWhen and where was America founded? Was it in Virginia in 1619, when a pirate ship landed a group of captive Africans at Jamestown? So asserted the New York Times in August 2019 when it announced its 1619 Project. The Times set out to transform history by tracing American institutions, culture, and prosperity to that pirate ship and the exploitation of African Americans that followed. A controversy erupted, with historians pushing back against what they say is a false narrative conjured out of racial grievance.This book sums up what the critics have said and argues that the proper starting point for the American story is 1620, with the signing of the Mayflower Compact aboard ship before the Pilgrims set foot in the Massachusetts wilderness. A nation as complex as ours, of course, has many starting points, most notably the Declaration of Independence in 1776. But the quintessential ideas of American self-government and ordered liberty grew from the deliberate actions of the Mayflower immigrants in 1620.Schools across the country have already adopted the Times’ radical revision of history as part of their curricula. The stakes are high. Should children be taught that our nation is a four-hundred-year-old system of racist oppression? Or should they learn that what has always made America exceptional is our pursuit of liberty and justice for all?

"America's traditional values have been overshadowed by a new ideal: Diversity. More than a legal principle, diversity is a cultural edict that attempts to tell us who we are and how we should live"--

"America's current political divisions are backed by vitriolic anger on all sides--anger that is rooted in a long-term change in American character. A nation that once regarded unbridled anger as a personal weakness has become a nation that regards anger as self-empowerment and a tool for positive social change. But anger remains what it was always was: a force that can sweep away judgment and carry us, as individuals or groups, into foolish confrontations. The power that an angry person feels on social media or in the street is a largely an illusion. Anger in politics serves a deknite purpose: it turns simmering resentments into collective purpose. But once this kind of anger is ignited, it burns its own path. No one really controls it. Anger in our personal lives often takes a self-destructive path, destroying relationships and isolating the angry man or woman from friends, family, and fellow workers. Peter W. Wood, an anthropologist, explains in this extensively revised and updated edition of his 2007 book, A Bee in the Mouth: Anger in America Now, how our "new anger" took shape, how it endangers our civic life, and how it can be turned to better purposes"--

"The book starts with an account of the arrival of the Pilgrims in Massachusetts in November 1620, which is to say that it endorses a very old idea of the best place to catch the first glimmer of the American republic: 1620, not 1619. I'm well aware that the claims of 1620 have their own weaknesses. The country's 'very origin, ' as the Times puts it, isn't something that can be settled once and for all. Many threads from many origins all eventually cohere into a nation. But there is something vital about 1620 that is worth pointing out and that is increasingly lost to national consciousness in our multicultural age. 1620 is a strong counterpoint to 1619, not just in proximity but in spirit. The rest of the book is best thought of as a voyage of discovery, so I will forego the usual practice of offering an advance tour of the chapters. What will come, will come"--