Book contents
- Americanization
- Americanization
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Quotations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Doctrine of Discovery and Natural Liberty
- Chapter 2 Reforging America
- Chapter 3 Race or Nation
- Chapter 4 The Melting Pot Mistake
- Chapter 5 The Causes of Race Superiority
- Chapter 6 The Making of a Nation
- Chapter 7 Americanization as a War Measure
- Chapter 8 Transnational America
- Epilogue
- References
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 3 - Race or Nation
A Conflict of Divided Loyalties
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 May 2026
Book contents
- Americanization
- Americanization
- Copyright page
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Quotations
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 The Doctrine of Discovery and Natural Liberty
- Chapter 2 Reforging America
- Chapter 3 Race or Nation
- Chapter 4 The Melting Pot Mistake
- Chapter 5 The Causes of Race Superiority
- Chapter 6 The Making of a Nation
- Chapter 7 Americanization as a War Measure
- Chapter 8 Transnational America
- Epilogue
- References
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
In his book Race of Nation: A Conflict of Divided Loyalties (1925), Italian–American lawyer and diplomat Gino Speranza (1887–1935) focuses on immigrants as a threat to American civilization. While Speranza claims that he holds “no brief for the superiority of Anglo-Saxon civilization,” he claims the US is an Anglo-Saxon country with an Anglo-Saxon civilization and “that people of Anglo-Saxon stock are the best adapted to running its government and shaping its special national life.” Speranza coins the term ‘nation-spiritual’ to distance himself from a very particular material, racialized, and conformist American identity that he details and promotes in his book; the term is, effectively, an ineffable shibboleth that can’t be specified because it is only available to the exclusive class of ‘true Americans’ (like Speranza) who, apparently, know it when they see it, or sense it, or feel it, and who arrogate to themselves the role of ‘decider’ of who ‘counts’ as a true American, and what the ‘essential principles and ideals of American life’ are.
Information
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- AmericanizationSpeeches and Writings, 1901–1927, pp. 48 - 71Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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