Little Ballerina Dancing Book

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From Thomas Jefferson to John Rawls, justice has been central to America's identity. However, for many—African slaves, European immigrants, women, and the poor—the American experience has often been marked by injustice, oppression, and prejudice. The author explores the contradictions between the mythic national identity that promises justice for all and the realities of a divided and inequitable society. Through insightful analyses, the author examines cultural moments such as the tension between individual ambition and communal complicity in "Moby-Dick," the social change efforts in the works of Lydia Marie Child and Harriet Beecher Stowe, Ralph Waldo Emerson's antislavery activism, and Frederick Douglass's fight for racial equity. The author also delves into the divisive figures of John Brown and Nat Turner in American memory. By focusing on instances where the conflicted nature of the United States resorted to force, the author argues for the development of a more cosmopolitan American identity, one that responds to the nation's ethical failings both domestically and internationally. The author is a professor of English and visual and cultural studies at the University of Rochester and has written extensively on related themes.