American Studies Can’t Stand Its Subject

Eighty percent of articles in the field’s leading journal were negative, while not one was positive

By Richard D. Kahlenberg and Lief Lin. Mr. Kahlenberg is director of the American Identity Project and Mr. Lin is a policy research fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Excerpts:

"almost 100 articles we examined from over a three-year period in American Quarterly, the flagship journal of the American Studies Association. Published by Johns Hopkins University, it’s widely considered the country’s premier journal of American studies."

"We found that 80% of articles published between 2022 and 2024 were critical of America, 20% were neutral, and none were positive. Of the 96 articles we examined, our research identified 77 as critical, focused on American racism, imperialism, classism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia. Some articles went to absurd lengths to identify sins. One essay posited that thermodynamics—the science dealing with the relationship between energy, heat, work and temperature—is “an abstract settler-capitalist theory that influenced the plunder of Indigenous lands and lives.”" 

"we couldn’t find a single positive article over a three-year period. There were none on American ingenuity. Readers wouldn’t come to understand why as of 2020 the U.S., representing about 4% of the world’s population, won 42% of the individual Nobel Prizes since the awards’ creation in 1901. Or why the U.S. was the first country to land a man on the moon. There wasn’t a single article about America’s vanquishing Nazi Germany in World War II or the Soviet Union in the Cold War. There was no discussion of why the U.S. is rated as the most desirable destination for immigrants across the world."

"the complete lack of gratitude on the part of scholars who write for the leading journal of American studies and benefit every day from the country’s commitment to liberty."

"we contacted University of Texas at Austin historian Steven Mintz, who has analyzed the field of American studies. He told us: “A field that once asked, ‘What is America?’—exploring its myths, music, monuments, and contradictions—now too often narrows its focus to a different question: ‘Whom has America silenced, failed, or harmed?’”"