"Real Americans is full of evidence, theory, and insight. Goldstein’s use of ‘group threat theory,’ for example, is persuasive, helping explain how powerful people come to believe they need to wield the Constitution against the historically marginalized."—Journal of American History
"Real Americans offers a valuable corrective to the dominant perception of a coherent constitutional tradition. In jargon-free prose, Goldstein presents a vivid overview of conservative nationalist movements, their ideas, and proposals."—Political Science Quarterly
"It is hard to overstate the timeliness of Goldstein’s new book. Goldstein reminds readers to beware of debates that curdle into battles of national identity and narrow foundational values. Highly recommended."—Choice
“Professor Jared Goldstein deftly explores how persons with exclusionary ideologies have claimed that those ideologies are rooted in the same Constitution that other Americans have claimed is committed to realizing the creed laid out in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence. Real Americans details the history of claims that the Constitution of the United States was designed for white persons, for Protestants, for native-born citizens, or for some combination of the three. An eye-opener and a page-turner on the dark side of American constitutional identity.”—Mark A. Graber, regents professor, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
“From the country’s inception, Americans have used the language of constitutional fidelity and devotion not only to reaffirm desirable and civically unifying creedal principles but also to foment exclusionary, divisive, and morally reprehensible values. Racists, ethno- and Christian nationalists, and other illiberal extremists have consistently wrapped themselves in the mantle of the Constitution while casting themselves as the compact’s most loyal defenders. For this reason, we cannot afford to take pious invocations of constitutional faith at face value. Jared Goldstein’s seminal study is essential reading for anyone hoping to understand some of the most disturbing currents of contemporary American politics.”—Ken I. Kersch, professor of political science, Boston College, and author of American Political Thought: An Invitation
“Goldstein’s illuminating book does a beautiful job of highlighting the ideological elasticity of the federal US Constitution and the way in which constitutional loyalty has served as a critical bedrock for a wide variety of American nationalisms. Through a series of compelling case studies, Real Americans focuses especially on exclusionary and illiberal forms of national belonging that have been encased in constitutional rhetoric. This book is a bracing rejoinder to the more familiar and rosy presentations of American constitutional culture and deserves as broad an audience as possible.”—Aziz Rana, Richard and Lois Cole Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
“A fresh and powerful description of the Constitution’s fraught role in American history. The Constitution, writes Jared Goldstein, is a magic mirror in which Americans project their dreams and their nightmares. Our much-loved founding document has been used, again and again, to justify hate, exclusion, and violence. Real Americans is essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the eternal American question, who are we? Unsettling, elegant, wise, fascinating, provocative, and impossible to put down.”—James A. Morone, author of Hellfire Nation, The Devils We Know, and Republic of Wrath
“Americans love to point to the Constitution as the ‘heart’ of American identity and defend its principles at all costs. However, neither the Constitution nor the defense of it are neutral. When Americans invoke the Constitution, we are claiming what the United States is supposed to be and what it is not supposed to be. In this brilliant yet sobering book, Goldstein brings our attention to how the Constitution has long been used to justify exclusion, hatred, and violence. This book is a tour de force that exposes the seamier side of America’s constitutional nationalism and the harm it has caused to folks both past and present. We the people have not lived up to the Constitution’s principles of liberty and justice because this founding document has divided and not united the American people. This must-read book shows us that we must reckon with dangers inherent in constitutional nationalism if we want America to ever live up to its lofty principles.”—Kelly J. Baker, author of The Gospel According to the Klan: The KKK’s Appeal to Protestant America, 1915–1930
