| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 110.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Melinda Lawson. Patriot Fires: Forging a New American Nationalism in the Civil War North. (American Political Thought.) Lawrence: University Press of Kansas. 2002. Pp. xv, 265. $29.95.

Melinda Lawson's study of northern identity during the Civil War commands our attention both as scholars and as citizens. The issues raised in her book—changing and contested definitions of loyalty, patriotism, nationalism—seem as fresh and relevant today as they were during the years 1861–1865. The book traces the rise of what Lawson describes as "transcendent patriotism," which called forth a powerful individual emotional response to the nation's traditions, replacing a more "contractual" prewar nationalism. "By war's end," she writes, "a 'Union' of states had become a 'nation' of Americans" (p. 3). This emerging "European-style" nationalism was based on powerful symbols, a perceived shared history, and a heartfelt patriotism. Lawson's book is especially valuable in demonstrating the specific ways in which emblems—such as flags or a stirring song—of nationhood united the people around the endangered Union. Together with Susan-Mary Grant's exploration of antebellum northern nationalism (North Over South: Northern Nationalism and American Identity in the Antebellum Era [2000]), it opens a vital window on how northern citizens connected to their country during turbulent times.

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