Who are we? : America's great debate / Samuel P. Huntington.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 367-410) and index

pt. I. The issues of identity -- 1. The crisis of national identity -- Salience : are the flags still there? -- Substance : who are we? -- The global identity crisis -- Prospects for American identity -- 2. Identities : national and other -- The concept of identity -- Others and enemies -- Sources of identity -- The false dichotomy -- part II. American identity -- 3. Components of American identity -- Change, continuity, and partial truths -- Settlers before immigrants -- More than the creed -- "No attachment to place" -- Race and ethnicity -- 4. Anglo-Protestant culture -- The cultural core -- "The dissidence of dissent" -- The American creed -- Individualism and the work ethic -- Moralism and the reform ethic -- 5. Religion and Christianity -- God, the cross, and America -- A religious people -- Protestant America and Catholicism -- A Christian people -- Civil religion -- 6. Emergence, triumph, erosion -- The fragility of nations -- Creating an American identity -- National vs. other identities -- Nation and patriotism triumphant -- Fading nationalism -- part III. Challenges to American identity -- 7. Deconstructing America : the rise of subnational identities -- The deconstructionist movement -- The challenge to the creed -- The challenge to English -- The challenge to the core culture -- 8. Assimilation : converts, ampersands, and the erosion of citizenship -- Immigration with or without assimilation -- Assimilation : still a success? -- Sources of assimilation -- The immigrants -- The immigration process -- American society : Americanization is un-American -- Ampersands and dual citizenship -- Citizens and noncitizens -- Alternatives to Americanization -- 9. Mexican immigration and Hispanization -- The Mexican/Hispanic challenge -- Why Mexican immigration differs -- How Mexican assimilation lags -- Individual assimilation and enclave consolidation -- The Hispanization of Miami -- The Hispanization of the Southwest -- 10. Merging America with the world -- The changing environment -- The search for an enemy -- Dead souls : the denationalization of elites -- The patriotic public -- Diasporas, foreign governments, and American politics -- part IV. Renewing American identity -- 11. Fault lines old and new -- The shaping trends -- The ending of ethnicity -- Race : constant, blurring, fading -- White nativism -- Bifurcation : two languages and two cultures? -- Unrepresentative democracy : elites vs. the public -- 12. Twenty-first century America : vulnerability, religion, and national identity -- The creed in an age of vulnerability -- Americans turn to religion -- The global resurgence of religion -- Militant Islam vs. America -- America in the world : cosmopolitan, imperial, and/or national?

America was founded by settlers who brought with them a distinct culture including the English language, Protestant values, individualism, religious commitment, and respect for law. The waves of later immigrants came gradually accepted these values and assimilated into America's Anglo-Protestant culture. More recently, however, national identity has been eroded by the problems of assimilating massive numbers of immigrants, bilingualism, multiculturalism, the devaluation of citizenship, and the "denationalization" of American eĺites. September 11 brought a revival of American patriotism, but already there are signs that this is fading. This book shows the need for us to reassert the core values that make us Americans.--From publisher description