Cecilia Elizabeth O'Leary

O'Leary looks at the development of American national identity in between the Civil War and WWI. Her argument is that, unlike most other countries, patriotism in the US was largely defined in the civic sphere instead of by government propaganda. In particular, veteran groups ended up controlling the debate and overwhelming minority influence. The end result was a patriotism that was perceived as white and had a strongly martial tone to it. The USG finally got involved during WWI and reinforced that construction.… (altro)