The Idea That is America : Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World

A leading voice in global affairs remembers the principles that America was founded upon, and shows how they can guide the nation forward into the twenty-first century.

At her creation, the USA was founded on seven core values: liberty, democracy, equality, justice, tolerance, faith and humility.

In this balanced new book, a pre-eminent foreign policy scholar uses speeches, lyrics, letters, verses and judicial opinions from some of America's most eloquent thinkers, to examine these principles and the historical successes and failures to live up to them.

Particularly relevant in light of the disjuncture between anti-Americanism around the world and the resurgence of patriotic fervour in the USA since 9/11, it is a powerful study which outlines a more moderate definition that America and its critics and admirers throughout the world can believe in.