Reviewed by Johann N. Neem | Book Review | The William and Mary Quarterly, 64.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the WMQ online. About 533 words from this article are provided below; about 1872 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to the William and Mary Quarterly, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the William and Mary Quarterly, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the William and Mary Quarterly (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the William and Mary Quarterly.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

Reviewed by Johann N. Neem | Book Review | The William and Mary Quarterly, 64.2 | The History Cooperative

Reviews of Books

Johann N. Neem, Western Washington University

A Nation among Nations: America's Place in World History. By Thomas Bender. New York: Hill and Wang, 2006. 380 pages. $26.00 (cloth), $15.00 (paper).
Thomas Bender, one of America's most distinguished historians, has written his most ambitious book yet. In A Nation among Nations, his task is nothing less than "to mark the end of American history as we have known it" (3). An end implies purpose and termination, and Bender intends both meanings.	1
Bender joins a growing chorus of historians critical of national historiography. Noting that modern historiography and the nation-state emerged together, he questions the assumption of "the self-contained nation as the natural carrier of history" (3). "The nation cannot be its own historical context" (4). Instead of being written for its own sake, American history should be situated in a global context.	2
A Nation among Nations builds on the insight of Bender's earlier work, Community and Social Change in America, in which he argued that "a preoccupation with territory . . . confuses our understanding of community." Written at a time when many historians were bemoaning the breakup of cohesive local communities, Bender responded that communities are composed of "a network of social relations marked by mutuality and emotional bonds" that "may or may not be coterminous with a specific, contiguous territory."¹ Trying to awaken a global consciousness, Bender now moves beyond national territory to expose those social, political, intellectual, and economic networks that have long linked Anglophone North America to the larger world. If national historiography cemented our loyalty to the nation-state, Bender hopes that a globalized American history will commit us to the world.	3
Given the historical importance of the nation-state and its continued influence in world affairs, Bender does not advocate abandoning national history so much as writing "a better form of national narrative" (297) that situates all national histories within a larger framework. Colonial and early national American history looks different from this broader perspective. American history becomes a case study in global history, much as studies of particular colonies or states attempt to illuminate something about regional or American history: "To take a global perspective is not to ignore or banish distinctive national histories. Rather, it is to recognize each nation as a province, a singular case of a larger history" (289).	4
Bender's story opens in 1492, when global history began. Rather than describe Columbus's arrival as contact or invasion, Bender argues that this moment "made possible entirely new global networks of trade and communication" (16) affecting every continent. According to the author's definition of community, the existence of global networks is proof that the world's peoples are tied together. Globalization "preceded America and made it possible" (17).	5
What is traditionally seen as colonial American history is part of "this common history" (17). Bender reminds us that European expansion was in part a response to the Ottomans' control of trade between Europe and Asia. Moreover China's decision to monetize silver supplied a market for the mines of Spanish America. Asia is a necessary context for understanding European imperialism.	. . .

There are about 1872 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.