[Railton] examines four different kinds of American patriotism in this accessible and progressive- minded history. . . . [A] particularly insightful study of the Progressive Era that juxtaposes Theodore Roosevelt’s embodiment of celebratory patriotism with the active and critical patriotism that motivated the period’s myriad reform movements, including women’s suffrage and anti-imperialism. . . . Liberals in particular will savor this fine-tuned dissection of competing visions of American patriotism.
— Publishers Weekly
Railton sheds light on current debates regarding patriotism in the public sphere and how they speak to our present and future as a democracy. . . . Railton defines four distinct forms of patriotism [and] In an enlightening parallel, he interprets the four verses of "America the Beautiful” as reflecting these four expressions of patriotism, deftly applying each as an analytical lens delivering new understandings of our history . . . As expressions of patriotism continue to reflect both our bitter differences and our shared ideals, the value of this perceptive work will continue to grow.
— Booklist
Ben Railton offers an insightful approach into how U.S. patriotism has been contradictorily defined since the founding of the country. He astutely argues that celebratory patriotism, where the U.S. is a perfect country, has evolved along with critical patriotism, where citizens work towards creating a more perfect union, and that both definitions have often been at odds with each other. Railton references a wide variety of popular cultural artifacts to demonstrate these competing definitions and brings his significant analysis into 2020. Anyone interested in how these contested definitions of U.S. patriotism began and have evolved would benefit from reading this book.
— Teresa Bergman, Professor of Communication at the University of the Pacific and author of Exhibiting Patriotism: Creating and Contesting Interpretations of American Historic Sites
Of Thee I Sing is a remarkably timely book that forces Americans to reckon with the true history of US patriotism. Analyzing the concept from the colonial period through the Age of Trump, Railton reveals how both the right and the left have used patriotism in vastly different ways to achieve radically different ends. From maintaining white-elite patriarchal power to fighting for human and Civil Rights, Of Thee I Sing proves that patriotism has always been, and always will be, an incredibly powerful tool in American politics.
— Keri Leigh Merritt, Author of Masterless Men: Poor Whites and Slavery in the Antebellum South
Despite the absolutist terms often applied to it, patriotism is pretty arbitrary. The location of your birth, which after all nobody has any say in, doesn’t obligate anyone to automatically support whatever country, government, or national mythology might exist wherever they happen to be. Patriotism, in its best form, is a moral choice, and like any decision its integrity hinges on the critical thinking involved. In Of Thee I Sing: The Contested History of American Patriotism, historian Ben Railton demonstrates just how arbitrary. Examining the varying forms that American patriotism can take, reminding us that patriotic words and deeds are more complex than they are often treated, Railton informatively argues that patriotism can be a challenge to the status quo. Applying your own experience, values, and ideals gradually reshapes your country’s narrative about itself, especially if you’re challenging its essential principles and myths, and questioning your own part in them.
— The Daily Beast