What does it mean to be an American? Is the republic a unified whole or a collection of disparate ethnic groups? In this book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr, examines the changing face of American history and shows how an increasing focus on ethnicity has affected life both in academic circles and on the street. America has always been a nation of immigrants striving towards the common goal of a better life than they had known in the old country. But the melting pot no longer seems an apt metaphor for the American experience: racial and ethnic minorities are drifting apart, focusing on individual heritage and becoming more bitterly divided. However, Professor Schlesinger ultimately believes that the old ideals of "e pluribus unum" are still strong enough to bind the United States together.