Identity and the Failure of America

From Thomas Jefferson to John Rawls, justice has been at the center of America's self-image and national creed. At the same time, for many of its peoples-from African slaves and European immigrants to women and the poor-theAmerican experience has been defined by injustice: oppression, disenfranchisement, violence, and prejudice. Here John Michael explores the contradictions between a mythic national identity promising justice to all and the realities of a divided, hierarchical, and frequently iniquitous history and social order.