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Book Cover for: Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past, Kevin M. Kruse

Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past

Kevin M. Kruse

Hardcover
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The New York Times Best Seller
2023 The New York Times Best Seller
In this instant New York Times bestseller, America's top historians set the record straight on the most pernicious myths about our nation's past.

The United States is in the grip of a crisis of bad history. Distortions of the past promoted in the conservative media have led large numbers of Americans to believe in fictions over facts, making constructive dialogue impossible and imperiling our democracy.

In Myth America, Kevin M. Kruse and Julian E. Zelizer have assembled an all-star team of fellow historians to push back against this misinformation. The contributors debunk narratives that portray the New Deal and Great Society as failures, immigrants as hostile invaders, and feminists as anti-family warriors--among numerous other partisan lies. Based on a firm foundation of historical scholarship, their findings revitalize our understanding of American history.

Replacing myths with research and reality, Myth America is essential reading amid today's heated debates about our nation's past.

With Essays By

Akhil Reed Amar - Kathleen Belew - Carol Anderson - Kevin Kruse - Erika Lee - Daniel Immerwahr - Elizabeth Hinton - Naomi Oreskes - Erik M. Conway - Ari Kelman - Geraldo Cadava - David A. Bell - Joshua Zeitz - Sarah Churchwell - Michael Kazin - Karen L. Cox - Eric Rauchway - Glenda Gilmore - Natalia Mehlman Petrzela - Lawrence B. Glickman - Julian E. Zelizer

Book Details

  • Publisher: Basic Books
  • Publish Date: Jan 3rd, 2023
  • Pages: 400
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 9.45in - 6.22in - 1.42in - 1.32lb
  • EAN: 9781541601390
  • Categories: • United States - 20th Century• Historiography• Essays

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About the Author

Kevin M. Kruse is a professor of history at Princeton University and the editor or author of five books, including White Flight and One Nation Under God. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey. 
 
Julian E. Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and the author and editor of numerous books, most recently Burning Down the House and Abraham Joshua Heschel. He lives in New York City. 

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Book Cover for: Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past, Kevin M. Kruse
Book Cover for: One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, Kevin M. Kruse
Book Cover for: White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism, Kevin M. Kruse
Book Cover for: Fog of War: The Second World War and the Civil Rights Movement, Kevin M. Kruse
Book Cover for: Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974, Kevin M. Kruse

What people are saying

Mentioner image for: 🦕 Jon Schwarz 🦕
🦕 Jon Schwarz 🦕
@schwarz
2 years

Jon Schwarz is a writer.

New #Deconstructed: I was very lucky to talk to historians @KevinMKruse and @julianzelizer about their new book, “Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” https://t.co/a70ToLW3gK

twitter.com
Mentioner image for: Slate
Slate
2 years

"Myth America, looks to debunk certain “legends and lies” about the American past... Only by grappling with the past as it actually happened, Kruse and Zelizer assert, can Americans “understand where we stand now and where we might go in the future.”"

– Paul Renfro is a historian.
slate.com
Mentioner image for: The Intercept
The Intercept
@theintercept
1 year

Fearless, adversarial journalism. Join our newsletter to get our best investigative reporting delivered to you: https://t.co/eYtvizH5cu

On #Deconstructed: @schwarz talks to historians @KevinMKruse and @julianzelizer about their new book, “Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” https://t.co/UwUS6i8bq9

twitter.com
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Critics’ reviews

Praise for this book

"Punching through the information overload with clear-eyed analysis, research rigor, and stylistic verve, this collection reveals the real history behind today's headlines and upends long-enduring myths. Powerful, timely, and essential."--Margaret O'Mara, author of The Code
"If you want to cling to your most cherished myths about history, this is a dangerous book. But at a time when both truth and history are under siege, Myth America has given us a blunt fact-check of many of the fictions that have come to dominate our political and cultural debates. An immensely important contribution and indispensable reference tool for confronting both the wish-casting and the disinformation about our past."--Charlie Sykes, editor in chief, The Bulwark
"An extraordinary essay collection by an extraordinary group of historians--each determined to make our national history usable in all the best ways. The truth does exist, and they tell it well. Together, they make an indispensable intervention for our troubled times."--Beverly Gage, author of G-Man
"Myth America's contributors take direct aim at the lies that are the lifeblood of the myths that grip American culture and politics today. This book is a collective work of courage in a time when 'truth' and 'fact' have never been so widely abused; if we believe in our craft as public historians and journalists, Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer show us the way."
--David W. Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass
"An authoritative and fitting contribution to the myth-busting genre."
--Carlos Lozada, New York Times
"[Myth America] brings together outstanding historians who draw on rich, often surprising recent research by themselves and others to present a much more complicated and less congratulatory picture of many of the most contentious issues in the nation's history. Moreover, these essays treat readers to wonderfully accessible, jargon-free historical writing."--Lizabeth Cohen, Washington Post
"The book's incisive essays poke holes in everything from American exceptionalism and white backlash to Confederate monuments and America First, taking us on a sobering tour through some of the nation's deepest and darkest chapters."--Vanity Fair
"The book's essays...are exemplary models of political and cultural history."--Slate
"Illuminating and sharply written...Distinguished by its impressive roster of contributors and lucid arguments, this ought to be required reading."--Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Julian Zelizer and Kevin Kruse marshal a fine array of historians for a bestselling assault on rightwing nonsense."--Guardian
"This important compilation deserves wide readership."
--CHOICE Connect

What people are saying

Mentioner image for: 🦕 Jon Schwarz 🦕
🦕 Jon Schwarz 🦕
@schwarz
2 years

Jon Schwarz is a writer.

New #Deconstructed: I was very lucky to talk to historians @KevinMKruse and @julianzelizer about their new book, “Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” https://t.co/a70ToLW3gK

twitter.com
Mentioner image for: Slate
Slate
2 years

"Myth America, looks to debunk certain “legends and lies” about the American past... Only by grappling with the past as it actually happened, Kruse and Zelizer assert, can Americans “understand where we stand now and where we might go in the future.”"

– Paul Renfro is a historian.
slate.com
See more