Book Review:

Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict

Leigh Anne Haygood

August 15, 2010

Liberty University

HSER 509

Dr. Nicole Cross

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Wyle, S. (2004). Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict. Upper Saddle
River: Pearson Education, Inc.

Abstract

Susan Wyle had collected and organized chronologically readings which highlight racial and

cultural conflicts throughout the history of the United States. The essays, speeches and political

cartoons compiled into Revisiting American gives a well balanced overview of both sides of

important conflicts of race, class and gender in the United States. From the early conflicts on the

Eastern shore with the Native Americans, the Salem witch trials, the settlement of the wild west

up through the Great Depression, Civil Rights movement, Vietnam and the tragedy of September

11, 2001, the reader is given glimpses into the power of language, the shaping of ideas, attitudes

and policies and the resulting conflicts.

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Concrete Responses

Revisiting America has been written in a teaching style with directives for finding sources

both in written form and via the internet. Susan Wyle has used her teaching experience in the

collection of essays included in the book and how to evaluate the arguments presented in the

writings.

The chapters are arranged chronologically from the seventeenth century to 2002.

Included in these chapters are scholarly articles, personal writings such as diaries, speeches and

political cartoons, advertisements and posters. The first chapter, “Early Conflicts on the Eastern

Shore,” includes the Pocahontas myth, the Salem Witch trials, slavery, and the fight for freedom

in colonial America (Wyle, 2004, p. 1).

Ronald Takaki compares the Native American and Irish “savagery” and English

“civilization” (Wyle, 2004, p. 16) in his writing, “The “Tempest” in the Wilderness.” The Irish

and the Native American were viewed as savages because they lived outside the English

definition of civilization. The Indian was classified as savage due to his nomadic habits, while

the Irish were savages due to their lack of “knowledge of God or good manners” (Wyle, 2004, p.

16).

Chapter 2 gives new views from Native Americans about the loss of their land,

assimilation into the white civilization, as well as speeches by Presidents Jefferson and Jackson

on Indian relocation. The varying views of the manifest destiny reveal how language can be

used to misrepresent the actual facts of a given period of history. Andrew Jackson’s justification

for Indian removal was that the Indians had failed the experiments to civilize them (Wyle, 2004,

p. 109), even though most Indians living east of the Mississippi had built homes and businesses

alongside their white neighbors. Frederick W. Turner III’s sentiment that “the knowledge of

history is always in a state of becoming and is entirely dependent up the uncovering and
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interpretation of the materials that make it up” (Wyle, 2004, p. 112) shows that historians should

always look through the eyes of another race of men to understand history (Wyle, 2004, p. 113).

“Conflicts on the Way West” show clear examples of racial, social, and gender-based

conflicts men and women, black and white, experienced while traveling West. John Ravage

discusses the ex-slave women who contributed to the settling of the wild west in “Black

Pioneers.” Mary Ellen Pleasant stands out as an “angel o the West” (Wyle, 2004, p. 199), with

her work with troubled and abused men, women, and children (p. 199).

Chapter 4 brings the reader into “one of the greatest conflicts in the history of the United

States” (Wyle, 2004, p. 253) --- the Civil War. This war split the fabric of this country and

almost caused the destruction of the republic our founding fathers sacrificed their lives and

resources to create (Wyle, 2004, p. 253).

Chapters 5 and 6 move the reader from the conflicts of California with essays and letters

pertaining to the Missions, the Gold Rush and Chinese Exclusion laws through the poverty and

wealth journeys to the American Dream. The experiences of the poorest immigrants and the

wealthiest Americans bring the dreams, the promise of a better life and the disillusions and

disappointments alive in vivid imagery.

The Depression, World War I and II brought economic, political and racial hardships to a

personal level with propaganda posters “to keep the world safe for democracy” (Wyle, 2004, p.

531).

The conflicts of the women’s movement, the civil rights movement, the Chicano farm

workers’ movement, and Vietnam dominated the postwar era in chapter 8. Martin Luther King’s

“I have a Dream” speech brought new light to the civil rights movement in a non-violent

leadership style. Dr. King’s tone of speech and use of song lyrics gave impact to his messages
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that reached all people regardless of race or culture (Wyle, 2004, p. 658). Betty Friedan led the

feminist movement to the front lines of America’s attention with The Feminine Mystique in 1963

(Wyle, 2004, p. 660). She recognized unhappiness and dissatisfaction in herself and other

women who were not using their education and talents outside the home (Wyle, 2004, p. 660).

She discovered many women believed they needed psychiatric help since they were dissatisfied

with their marriages, suffering from anxiety and depression (Wyle, 2004, p. 667). Friedan

believed the key was not a matter of losing one’s femininity or too much education, but rather

the key to resolving “the problem that has no name” (Wyle, 2004, p. 664) was to answer the call

of the voice within that says, “I want something more than my husband and my children and my

home” (Wyle, 2004, p. 672).

Contemporary issues of more recent twentieth century and twenty-first century readings

are brought to light in the last chapter. Although the writings of this chapter stand alone, it is

suggested that the reader should read and compare these essays with the previous similar topic

essays in earlier chapters (Wyle, 2004, p. 717). Indeed, as one reads these more contemporary

essays, the thought occurs that history tends to repeat itself in most issues, such as the

immigration issues we are experiencing today. These can be compared to the Native American

issues in years past. Estelle B. Freedman shows how women today continue to struggle with

harassment in the workplace and abuse in the home (Wyle, 2004, p. 718), just as Betty Friedan

wrote of the woman’s struggle to leave the home and join the workplace.

Reflection

Susan Wyle did an outstanding job in collecting these essays to present both sides of the

conflicts according to culture and race. The material was informative and enlightening, as well

as enjoyable reading. Being of Native American and Irish heritage, I particularly enjoyed the
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comparisons between the two “savage” cultures as described by Ronald Takaki (Wyle, 2004, p.

14-31).

I related well to Betty Friedan’s and Gloria Steinem’s writings. Searching for approval

by “stifling our thoughts or by imitating the male norm” (Wyle, 2004, p. 677) has often caused

self-consciousness and fear in my life. I have personally experienced the “problem with no

name” (Wyle, 2004, p. 660) and the voice within whispering, “I want more” (Wyle, 2004,

p.672). For me the “more” is not that my husband, children and home are not enough but the

“more” is meeting the challenge of higher learning and working. This increases my self-image

and self-worth, which produces more of me to give back to my family and home.

Action

Revisiting America has given me some new perspective on historical events. Although

Susan Wyle and Paul Johnson’s writing styles are quite different, I found many of the same

views expressed by Mr. Johnson (A History of the American People, 1997) in the essays in

Wyle’s Revisiting America. Susan Wyle has given me more insight to research what is

commonly taught as history via various means and methods. Wyle states one of her goals for

this book was to give “new perspectives on the major conflicts that have shaped the culture and

history of the United States” (2004, p. 1). I hope as I progress in my counseling career, I can

give clients, friends and family the same encouragement to analyze and challenge old

assumptions and truths to gain better understanding of life as we know it in our great country.
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References

Johnson, P. (1997). A History of the American People. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.

Wyle, S. (2004). Revisiting America: Readings in Race, Culture, and Conflict. Upper Saddle

River: Pearson Education, Inc.