Introduction / Joshua A. Claybourn -- Composite nation? / David W. Blight -- Narratives as habits of thought / James V. Wertsch -- The plastic age / Jason Kuznicki -- In pursuit of an idea : America's ongoing quest / Ali Wyne -- Can the United States be one people? / Gordon S. Wood - Holding ourselves together / John C. Danforth -- Society and service / Jim Banks -- The story of us : community cohesion / Cherie Harder -- An American community / Nikolas Gvosdev -- A dream for anyone and everyone / Markos Moulitsas -- Foot voting nation / Ilya Somin -- Transatlantic perspectives / Spencer Boyer -- Embattled farmers / Cass R. Sunstein -- America as a social movement / Eleanor Clift -- Yankee ingenuity / Gerard N. Magliocca -- American minimalism / Richard A. Epstein -- One nation divisible / Alan Taylor -- America's broken narrative of exceptionalism / Cody Delistraty.