Name: Rob Erekson's review of American Rule by Jared Yates Sexton
Item: American Rule
Rating: 5
Author: Rob Erekson

Jared Yates Sexton

From writer and political analyst Jared Yates Sexton comes a journey through the history of the United States, from the nation's founding to the twenty-first century, which examines and debunks the American myths we've always told ourselves. In recent years, Americans have faced a deluge of horrifying developments in politics and culture: stolen elections, fascist rallies, families torn apart and locked away. A common refrain erupts at each new atrocity: This isn't who we are. In American Rule, Jared Yates Sexton upends those convenient fictions by laying bare the foundational myths at the heart of our collective American imagination. From the very origins of this nation, Americans in power have abused and subjugated others; enabling that corruption are the many myths of American exceptionalism and steadfast values, which are fed to the public and repeated across generations. Working through each era of American growth and change, Sexton weaves together the origins and perpetuation of these narratives still in the public memory, and the acts we have chosen to forget. Stirring, deeply researched, and disturbingly familiar, American Rule is a call to examine our own misconceptions of what it means, and has always meant, to be an American.

How a Nation Conquered the World But Failed Its People

American Rule

Mitch Stewart

Rob Erekson

I’m hesitant to give this book a full 5 star rating simply because it appealed so heavily to my own confirmation biases, but I’m letting it stick for now. The book is thoroughly informative and enjoyable, never feeling like a traditional dry historical analysis as it weaves a story from the signing of the Declaration of Independence through the the rise of polarizing presidents like Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump as it chronicles the plutocracy of America and the slow decay of the American conservative political party.

The timing of reading this book could not have been better, as the purpose of the book naturally transitioned from “How can somebody like Donald Trump become President in America” to “How could people that claim to love their country trust a con-man like Donald Trump to the point of storming the U.S. Capitol Building.”

Mitch Stewart &
American Rule by Jared Yates Sexton

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Mitch Stewart &American Rule by Jared Yates Sexton

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Mitch Stewart &
American Rule by Jared Yates Sexton