Learning from Ishmael Reed's "What American About America?"
             It is true that America is glorified as a wealthy country, home of the free, land of the brave, etc., but to whom should the credit actually go? In "What's American About America?," Ishmael Reed does an incredible job of shooting down all possible preconceived notions that the original settlers were the one sole cause of our success as a "culture." He argues vehemently for the cultures that arrived in America before and after the Europeans, and really puts a new twist in the thought of having one group of people as responsible for the way America is today. Our country's culture is original in that we have so many different cultures mixed in, but merely recognizing that fact and not celebrating it makes Americans seem unappreciative. When history is taught in school, not enough emphasis is put on the influence of emigrants that have made America as diverse and far-reaching as it is today. More often than not, students are relayed only one-side of the story to make one or two groups' contributions so great that it overshadows the big picture. As Americans, we should recognize we are who we are because of all the different people who live here.
             To give the credit of forming America only to the Puritans does not go over well with Reed. They were "idealized in our school books as the first Americans, 'a hardy band' of no-nonsense patriarchs whose discipline razed the forest and brought order to the New World" (Reed 5), as he so passive aggressively puts it. It is very important for the reader to understand that the Puritans definitely had their bad side, and it came out in the form of murder, mistrust and greed. Reed does not completely write off the Puritans, but the pedestal they were upon has been smashed and incinerated by Reed's powerful statement: "The Puritan legacy of hard work a
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