November 16, 2001

Can Patriotism Be Turned Into Civic Engagement?

By WILLIAM A. GALSTON

The events of September 11 have evoked an outpouring of patriotism, not least among young Americans. Scholars, pundits, and young people themselves are wondering whether the attacks on the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon represent a defining event for this new generation, much as Vietnam did for their parents and Pearl Harbor for their grandparents. If so, it would represent a huge shift of outlook for a group whose detachment from civic life before September 11 was unprecedented

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