A critical, unflinching cultural history and fierce beacon of hope for a better future, America Redux is a necessary and galvanizing read.

What are the stories we tell ourselves about America?

How do they shape our sense of history,

cloud our perceptions,

inspire us?

America Redux explores the themes that create our shared sense of American identity and interrogates the myths we’ve been telling ourselves for centuries. With iconic American catchphrases as chapter titles, these twenty-one visual stories illuminate the astonishing, unexpected, sometimes darker sides of history that reverberate in our society to this very day–from the role of celebrity in immigration policy to the influence of one small group of white women on education to the effects of “progress” on housing and the environment, to the inspiring force of collective action and mutual aid across decades and among diverse groups.

Fully illustrated with collaged archival photographs, maps, documents, graphic elements, and handwritten text, this book is a dazzling, immersive experience that jumps around in time and will make you view history in a whole different light.

This is exactly the type of book that needs to be in schools and libraries today. Aberg-Riger pulled no punched in their retelling of many different events or trends in American history, and it’s desperately needed right now. While many of the topics explored in this book (eugenics, internment camps, colonization, genocide, racism, homophobia, etc) were known to me in some way, there were some events that I had never heard of or had only seen a brief mention of sometime in my life. Events such as these in American history should be taught and known, it needs to be acknowledged instead of ignored or hidden in order for us to learn.

The visual/mixed media style of this book is another thing I love, it’s eye catching and informative and easy to absorb. I hope to see more books like this in the future rather than less, because honestly, there needs to be. We will never learn from history if we ignore it.

Thanks so much to the publisher for sharing this book with me. Happy reading!