The Captive Aliens Who Remain Our Shame

It is a commonplace that being an American is a matter neither of blood nor of cultural connections forged over time. It is, instead, a commitment to a set of ideals famously laid down by the country’s founders, and refined over generations with a notion of progress as a guiding principle. Of course, what it means to be an American is not—has never been—so simple a proposition. Annette Gordon-Reed reviews "Our Common Shame" by Robert Parkinson.
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