Nation Among Nations

Keith Benson Curriculum Analysis Dr. Ben Justice 3.6.2008

Suppose we lived in a world without imaginary boundary lines dividing nations; living in a truly global community where only boundaries that exist are those created by the world’s massive bodies of water. What would national historiesbe then? Thomas Bender, in A Nation Among Nations suggests this is the perspective from which we should investigate and examine American history. It is Bender’s argument that American history is not a collection of “exceptional” phenomena that occurred within an American vacuum, but rather was shaped and occurred in concert with actions around the world; thus making American history actually global history. Through carefully examining “defining moments” in American history i.e., transatlantic expedition, the slave trade and the Civil War, Bender does his best to illustrate the link these events, viewed as benchmarks in American history, with global events with global implications. Bender attempts to make the general audience view American history from a global lens. Where Benders appears to fall short is his “brave” attempt to make American history global history is the most common perspective from which he analyzes these events is through the currently expectable Eurocentric lens. Though his criticism of America and Europe are clearly expressed, his conveyance of American history still reflects the side of the “victor”. Bender too often presents his cases in a ‘agent vs. victim’ format, completely ignoring the possibility of other world events that may have contributed to American/Western dominance during the latter half of the millennia. Furthermore, Bender’s starting his global history with trans-Atlantic

expeditions causes skepticism alone, in that as described in Guns, Germs, and Steel, peoples of an entire half of the world are completely ignored in A Nation Among Nations. Bender, in efforts to promote global history and American history as a fluid, seamless entity could have done a better job including peoples of the American history already ignored. It is my idea that following the age of nationalism, prior to WWI, helped foster a spirit of global competition among nations divided by imaginary lines. A result of that competition, besides war, was an effort for every nation to tell their own unique story. Predictably, a nation’s own unique story devoid of global context makes an incomplete story. American history, without considering global events makes America seem exceptional and special. And In today’s America where a citizen’s patriotism is appraised by how often the Pledge of Allegiance is recited, if an American flag is flying outside one’s home, or if we “support the troops”, not believing in American exceptional-ism is heresy. Sadly, our history classrooms reflect that.