September 7, 2007

The Abdication of American Culture Scholars

To the Editor:

I admire the essay by Richard Pells, "History Descending a Staircase: American Historians and American Culture" (The Chronicle Review, August 3). Pells has a point: For far too long, it seems, left/liberal professors of American culture have been reluctant to talk about what's American about American culture.

Let me take his idea further and try to say what I think lies beneath this neglect of American cultural history. I know it seemed noble and felt good to

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