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Cover of "A Great Disorder" by Richard Slotkin, depicting the outline of the United States made out of cracked stone, overlaid with the American flag.

American Mythology

Is the United States a prisoner of its own mythology?
by Tom Zoellner via Los Angeles Review of Books on October 4, 2024
Trent Reznor

Knots, Ties, and Lines: “The Downward Spiral” at Thirty

Nine Inch Nails, the Manson Family, and the contradictions of Los Angeles.
by Gianni de Falco via Cleveland Review of Books on July 16, 2024
Cover of "A Great Disorder."

In Need of a New Myth

Myths to explain American history and chart a path to the future once helped to bind the country together. Today, they are absorbed into the culture wars.
by Eric Foner via London Review of Books on June 26, 2024
Richard Slotkin.

“A Theory of America”: Mythmaking with Richard Slotkin

"I was always working on a theory of America."
by Kathleen Belew, Richard S. Slotkin via Public Books on April 19, 2024
Democrat and Republican stickers with letters (R or D) indicating the affiliation.

The Story Wars

The conflict between Red and Blue America is a clash of national mythologies.
by Richard S. Slotkin via The Yale Review on March 11, 2024
John Gast's "American Progress" painting with the woman representing manifest destiny cut out.

Missed America

When all the bad things America did are true, but none of the good things, something is amiss.
by Johann N. Neem via The Hedgehog Review on July 7, 2023
Will Smith as the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Tracing the Evolution of Celebrity Memoirs, from Charles Lindbergh to Will Smith

Creating a personal myth allows celebrities to create just that—a myth.
by Landon Y. Jones via Literary Hub on May 9, 2023
Painting of "The County Election" by George Caleb Bingham.

The Myth of American Individualism

How the utopian notion of the U.S. as a meritocracy became so ingrained in the American psyche.
by Eric C. Miller, Alex Zakaras via Arc: Religion, Politics, Et Cetera on February 21, 2023
Statue of the "Spirit of Wyoming," a bucking horse with its rider, outside of the Capitol Building in Cheyenne.
partner

The Fight for Accurate Western History is about Inclusion Today

Distortions in Western history have long obscured the region’s Black communities.
by Anthony W. Wood via Made By History on February 2, 2023
Alfred Stieglitz's photograph "The Steerage."

This Photo of U.S. Immigration Isn’t What You Think

There is more to Alfred Stieglitz’s iconic photograph “The Steerage” than meets the eye.
via The Bigger Picture on October 3, 2022
Man in American themed boxers, carrying a semiautomatic rifle

How Did Guns Get So Powerful?

Decade by decade, firearms have become deadlier—and tightened their grip on our collective imagination.
by Phil Klay via The New Yorker on June 11, 2022
"Napalm Girl" Photo from Vietnam War

Myths Distort the Reality Behind a Horrific Photo of the Vietnam War and Exaggerate Its Impact

The ‘Napalm Girl’ photo is much more than powerful evidence of war’s indiscriminate effects on civilians.
by W. Joseph Campbell via The Conversation on June 2, 2022
Postcard image of a painting of the Mayflower at sea.

Looking for an American Myth

The fevered hunt for basic symbols.
by John Ganz via Unpopular Front on February 6, 2022
An engraving of the American pioneer and folk hero, Daniel Boone.

Daniel Boone: A Frontiersman in Full

The life of Daniel Boone underlines how the North America of the era was a welter of conflict among and between natives and Europeans.
by Rich Lowry via National Review on December 16, 2021
White Sands National Park on a sunny day.

The Lure of the White Sands

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, Geronimo, Robert Oppenheimer, Steven Spielberg, and the mysteries of New Mexico's desert.
by Rich Cohen via New York Review of Books on March 29, 2021
Kids in an empty city lot with graffiti and rubble.

The Long Reinvention of the South Bronx

On the mythologies behind urban renewal.
by Peter L’Official via Literary Hub on August 3, 2020

The Real Calamity Jane Was Distressingly Unlike Her Legend

A frontier character's life was crafted to be legendary, but was the real person as incredible?
by Sam Leith via The American Spectator on February 6, 2020

The Wild West Meets the Southern Border

At first glance, frontier towns near the U.S.-Mexico border seem oblivious both of history and of the current political reality.
by Valeria Luiselli via The New Yorker on June 3, 2019
Reagan signing the bill establishing Martin Luther King Day.

The Sanitizing of Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks

On the uses and abuses of civil rights heroes.
by Jeanne Theoharis, Jeremy Scahill via The Intercept on October 8, 2017
The filmmakers discuss the Vietnam miniseries.

Burns and Novick, Masters of False Balancing

In promoting healing instead of a search for truth, “The Vietnam War” offers misleading comforts.
by Jerry Lembcke via Public Books on September 15, 2017

American Sphinx

Civil War monuments erased an emancipated Black population, but the Sphinx looked to an integrated Africa and America.
by Colin Dickey via Longreads on August 31, 2017

The Pernicious Myth of the ‘Loyal Slave’ Lives on in Confederate Memorials

Statues don’t need to venerate military leaders of the Civil War to promulgate false narratives.
by Kevin M. Levin via Smithsonian on August 17, 2017
partner

The Real Story Behind "Johnny Appleseed"

Johnny Appleseed was based on a real person, John Chapman, who was eccentric enough without the legends.
by Matthew Wills, William Kerrigan via JSTOR Daily on October 22, 2016
Image of a father and child walking on a beach.

Mythologizing Fatherhood

Ralph LaRossa explains the problems with mythologizing modern dads and the stereotypes present within views of fatherhood of the past.
by Ralph LaRossa via National Council On Family Relations on March 1, 2009
Cinderella Tries on the Slipper, by Millikin and Lawley, c. 1890.
partner

If the Slipper Doesn’t Fit

A scorched shoe is a crucial part of Zelda Fitzgerald’s modern mythology. But there’s no proof it existed.
by Gabby Kiser via HNN on September 9, 2025
Alexander Hamilton painting by John Trumbul, 1792.
partner

Hamilton’s Real Immigration Story

The popular musical poses Alexander Hamilton as a symbol of the value of immigrants brought to America, but over time, his party became increasingly xenophobic.
by Livia Gershon, Phillip W. Magness via JSTOR Daily on September 2, 2025
Children in the Kennedy family labeled with their named.

Hijacking the Kennedys

Only one cousin is in a position of power — and his family can only watch helplessly as he destroys much that they stood for.
by Reeves Wiedeman via Intelligencer on August 25, 2025
Painting of Geronimo

This Is Not the Real Geronimo

Elbridge Ayer Burbank’s haunting paintings capture a likeness that was only ever real from the vantage point of a White man with a gun, canvas, or camera.
by Joseph M. Pierce via Hyperallergic on August 18, 2025
A portrait of Davy Crockett in formal attire is imposed next to an actor in a Davy Crockett costume surrounded by raccoons.

How Davy Crockett, the Rugged Frontiersman Killed at the Alamo, Became an Unlikely American Hero

During his lifetime, Crockett—who went by David, not Davy—shaped his own myth. In the 20th century, his legacy got a boost from none other than Walt Disney.
by Greg Daugherty via Smithsonian Magazine on August 18, 2025
A nuclear explosion mushroom cloud.

What Do We Forget When We Remember Hiroshima?

Eighty years of talking peace and preparing for nuclear war.
by Eric Ross via Tom Dispatch on August 12, 2025
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