America Becoming: Framing Our Declaration of Interdependence

Our founders have become figures that appeared shrouded, lost in the mists of marble and statues. They are myths, honored relics of our fabled past and the very architects of our present. There’s just one problem with this rosy, dare I say, overly longing view of political greatness. It’s not completely true. In fact, you’d be surprised by how ordinary the founders really were. Their greatness came from very real and human qualities. Many of them wouldn’t have proclaimed themselves to be statesmen. They were just citizens, who argued fiercely with one another, stretched the realms of political thought, and then took a chance, well many chances. It works because at the end of the day it’s built on justice and community.

As Lisa Uhrik mentions in her powerful and engrossing new book America Becoming: Framing Our Declaration of Interdependence, much has been spoken and written about our nation’s recent decline. Many argue that we live in the most polarizing and troubling times since the Civil War. That Americans have turned into warring camps and hide in echo chambers. As Uhril maintains, we are in many ways a teenage nation. We lack the length and breadth of history that many of the historical great civilizations possess. However, this rebellious sparkle that burns within all of us, that helped shape our country, is not something to fear, it is an instrument to use.

Two hundred and forty years of nationhood can feel like an eternity, and indeed it’s a vast amount of time. However, as the author claims, it doesn’t mean that we as a country are past our period of exploration. That we are so old and set in our ways that we can’t experiment, each generation redefining the process. This insightful book is not another rehash of 1776, not another list of beliefs about the founder’s views, and it certainly isn’t another book preaching the ills of our time. Rather it is a positive and hopeful manifesto of where we as a nation and people can go from here. This is a rich and compelling book that can’t fall to leave you inspired. One that can reawaken patriotism and rediscover hope.