Robert Wuthnow's insightful book examines the stories that we Americans like to believe about ourselves, not so much for the purpose of discovering whether those stories are true—though he presents plenty of evidence to show both truth and falsity in them—as for the sake of showing what the United States needs to become a better nation. The falsity in those “narratives” makes our perceptions of ourselves biased (p. 1), he argues; but because they function at the level of “deep meaning” behind our collective thinking (p. 25), we rarely question their validity. Such questioning should be the work of “reflective democracy” (p. 3), a combination of opinions from experts and the masses. Since the United States is a country of immigrants, Wuthnow relies on interviews with “new immigrant elites because they provide a particularly interesting informational context in which to examine ideas about cultural renewal” (p. 9). It stands to reason that elites will be more interesting than the masses, but is Wuthnow's sample a good way to gauge the prospects for democracy? “Cultural renewal” involves families, schools, and civic associations, but it is not always clear what he means by culture. At times he gives the word an entirely intellectual meaning (e.g., “basic values and … taken-for-granted understandings of what it means to be good people and to live responsibly in a good society” [p. 14]).

Wuthnow welcomes the increased attention to diversity in our society, but he recognizes that the resulting proliferation of special-interest groups and identity politics is problematic. He tries to strike the right balance between the individual and the group by analyzing “various meanings of the self … or perhaps better, the human person” (p. 40). Unfortunately, he forgets that correction as he proceeds to argue that the right balance involves fostering “strong selves” who contribute to their communities (p. 42). The term self, with its philosophical baggage, preserves the psychological inwardness that Wuthnow wants to overcome. Is it safe to say that his diction betrays a bias toward individualism? There is other evidence: “personhood is achieved only as people lose themselves in service to others” (p. 50); “embedded selves” are “constrained by their social locations” (p. 54, emphases added). He may complain about our overemphasis on individual rights, but he shows a fondness for certain terms—values, empowerment, lifestyle—that reinforce that emphasis.

The first chapters to delve into immigrants' narratives concerns privilege. The privilege enjoyed by many immigrants is generally considered to be justified by their psychological adjustment in giving up their former homes for a chance at success. But “it is hard to imagine that we are a noble people if losing our homes is the price of privilege” (p. 80). The author rightly directs our attention to the heavy cost all Americans pay when rootlessness is a precondition of success.

Another American narrative is that of the self-made person. According to Wuthnow, it encourages hard work and sacrifice, but it also reinforces the questionable equation of success in life with distinction in one's career and omits the roles played by luck and society. Such stories habituate Americans to look for morality in private, not public, life; when it comes to philanthropy, instead of seeking systemic improvements they will “place their bets on helping the few whose lives may with time emulate their own” (p. 127). The positive side of that coin, which he sees, is that most Americans believe that industriousness leads to success, and so they work hard.

Wuthnow finds serious problems with the shibboleth that America's religious vitality serves both religion and liberty. Active religious communities should feature a great deal of charitable work and social and political discussion. But the diversity that prevents one sect from gaining control also seems to lead most Americans to consider all religions true; indeed, many people believe that the purpose of religion is not to provide access to spiritual truth but to make their own lives more comfortable. As a result, religion becomes privatized. The author cites one survey of religious Korean Americans, many of whom performed volunteer work in their churches and neighborhoods but who were less likely than other Americans to be politically active. He concludes that they were not “significantly contributing to the vitality of American democracy” (p. 153). But he neglects Tocqueville's distinction between civic and political associations, both of which contribute to democracy. Nevertheless, Wuthnow cogently explains how democracy suffers when religion is privatized: Right and wrong become matters of private opinion; politics is shaped more by charisma than by principle; and those who still believe that their religion is exclusively true tend to be better mobilized for political success.

Wuthnow is an ethnic pluralist, not an assimilationist. But he too quickly dismisses assimilation as aiming for a society of people who “think and behave like white Anglo-Saxon Protestants” (p. 164). He is not content with what sociologist Herbert Gans called “symbolic ethnicity”: preserving the trappings of an ethnic tradition while ignoring that tradition when it becomes inconvenient. He realizes that many Americans are thus content but counters that symbolic ethnicity merely strengthens stereotypes without providing for interethnic dialogue. He argues for more ethnically conscious educational and hiring policies and stronger extended families.

Many Americans believe that immigrants may save them from their materialistic ways, but they are unwilling to abandon the fruits of commercial society. It is not true, Wuthnow argues, that such a society eliminates all traces of ethnicity, but it does become oligarchic, and we should also worry when the logic of the marketplace extends itself to other areas, especially to religion.

The concluding chapter, “Venues for Reflective Democracy,” is disappointing, because Wuthnow does not identify any venues. Reflective democracy, he says, requires that the public be not only politically informed but also able to examine its cultural assumptions. But when the first condition is poorly met, what are the chances for the more difficult one? He recognizes that town meetings and other public forums have never fulfilled that function, civic associations are not sufficiently diverse, higher education disproportionately serves the young, and the mass media do not offer much deep cultural analysis.

I should not end negatively, because this book contains keen reflections that make it well worth reading. Wuthnow gives a compelling account of the transformation of American society from an era of conformity in the 1950s to an era of good feelings today (pp. 42–48). He chides the establishment liberalism of the New York Times for simultaneously defending the rights of Muslim schoolgirls in France and Germany to wear scarves and warning them that if they wear the scarves they may understandably be branded fanatics (pp. 155–56). He shows how a society that encourages immigrants to privatize their religious beliefs develops a bland sameness, despite ethnic diversity (p. 162). American Mythos is a significant contribution, especially to the current debate over immigration.