At first glance, American patriotism seems a simple matter. But it is simple only until one actually starts to think about it, inquire after its sources, and investigate its manifestations. [...]"

This article appears in the Fall 2001 issue of _The Public Interest_, a journal about which Francis Fukuyama has said:

"When the intellectual history of the late twentieth century America is written, scholars will point to the large impact that a small journal, The Public Interest, has had in shaping the course of American public policy, on issues from crime to welfare to education. No other magazine has had a comparable effect in keeping the social sciences honest."

America: Idea or Nation?