Re-Enchanting American History

Around the world, citizens and leaders seek to realign collective identities with political boundaries. These aspirations are reshaping the ways we discuss—and divide over—US history. This article asks whether the history discipline is prepared to respond to the changes taking place around us, including the revival of nationalism. Professional historians use three dominant paradigms to narrate the history of the United States: post-American, hyper-American, and mainstream. Too often, analyses tend to fuel rather than explain today’s history culture wars. This article avoids judging the comparative worth of the three paradigms, focusing instead on analyzing seriously the ideas and aspirations of progressive, conservative, and mainstream scholars. The goal is to help scholars in each camp understand the deeper ideas animating their disagreements. This article both surveys the state of the field and offers guidance to academic and public historians as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary.