Welcome to this month's reading group selection. David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908. At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades. Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society. I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran. Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, not...
Thanks for this link, Gintaras. I'll use this and Wood until my book arrives. I made the mistake of ordering it with Game Change and it's currently out of stock (already). Must be quite the book!
ReplyDeleteIn Revolutionary Characters, Wood talks about the "Madison problem" -- which as I recall relates to how to reconcile his anti-democratic feelings towards the states.
But sounds like Wills is dealing with more international questions, so I'll have to see what Adams says.
Wills definitely takes the broader view here, focusing heavily on the War of 1812, often to comic effect. Young America was lucky to have come out of that war in one piece.
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