Maybe Francis Fukuyama was right?
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...
I was stunned to see this book at the top of the American History best-selling list at amazon.
ReplyDeleteIt pretty much is how at feels over at Melba these days.
Is it just me, or does that cover "read" as Nazi propaganda?
ReplyDeleteI think ol' Glenn is just trying to "stir us up," but yes there is an oddly fascist tone to the cover. Yet, woe be it to anyone to accuse these right-wing pundits of such.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the amazing part is how much creedence mainstream media gives these guys.