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The American story, splintered, and those vying to tell it
Jun 03, 2020 1 min, 48 secs

Since its inception, a nation lacking an existing shared culture instead built its identity on a series of stories.

People need stories of belonging,” says Colin Woodard, author of the new book “Union: The Struggle to Forge the Story of United States Nationhood.”.

Such stories emerged in the generation after the founding fathers died, and they grew with the nation, becoming more powerful even as they excluded many who populated American life.

It wasn’t until mass culture really emerged in the early 1900s — first movies, then radio and comic books and TV and finally grown-up advertising — that most Americans started hearing identical stories about their country, even if those stories didn’t include them.

An alignment settled in — a potent national culture that was promptly upended by a 1960s “counterculture” that had a different story to tell and no intention of being silenced.

And as this week reveals, there’s a free-for-all to determine which version of the American story wins the day.

And so you have Trump — atop the bulliest pulpit in the land — characterizing the American story Monday night: “Our country always wins.

Over and over, protesters speak of wanting to be heard, of having their stories shape the larger story, of needing the central myth of American life to include them.

Just as vigorously, those triggered by the tumult tell an impassioned story of order, calm and the right to be safe in one’s home and one’s business — something central to the American story right back to the first settlers.

For the moment, these different stories seem utterly irreconcilable?

Many are not primed to hear their fellow Americans’ stories right now?

“We all want to believe in this story — that we all are created equal and have the right to pursue life, liberty, justice and happiness.

But in this country of stories, not having one won’t work either.

Does a nation cease to exist when its foundational story breaks apart, when those who tell that story are saying different things.

Everywhere in the nation today, on the streets and in the halls of government, people are summoning their version of the American story

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