Myths America Lives by By Richard T. Hughes

The Reverend David Wagner, Chaplain at Holy Innocents Episcopal School,recommends this book stating: "Dr. Hughes' book is both an accessible and challenging read that explores the roles that racism and white supremacy have played throughout our country's history. He helpfully ties together scripture, theology, and history while also proposing solutions for ways to work forward -- important for those who seek to respect the dignity of every human being."

Six myths lie at the heart of the American experience. Taken as aspirational, four of those myths remind us of our noblest ideals, challenging us to realize our nation's promise while galvanizing the sense of hope and unity we need to reach our goals. Misused, these myths allow for illusions of innocence that fly in the face of white supremacy, the primal American myth that stands at the heart of all the others.

In this revised second edition of his celebrated work, Richard T. Hughes delves anew into the thought of black critics dissatisfied with America's betrayal of its foundational beliefs. Speaking for people often marginalized in American life, thinkers like Malcolm X, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Yolanda Pierce, Carol Anderson, Charles Blow, Toni Morrison, and Martin Luther King Jr. offer important perspectives on African American experiences, the pervasiveness of white supremacy, and the ways America can embrace, and deliver on, its egalitarian promise. Hughes's updated text and new introduction investigate past and present intersections of white supremacy with our shared American mythology.

Paperback.

Richard T. Hughes is a professor emeritus at both Pepperdine University and Messiah College.