Abstract
August 2007 The Truth about Patriotism by Steven Johnston, an associate professor in the Department of Government and International Affairs at the University of South Florida, is a serious intellectual rebuttal to the mainstream contemporary discussion of patriotism. Chapter 2, "This Patriotism Which Is Not One," summarizes the thoughts of leading academics and editorial proponents who argue the fundamental foundation of the modern state "raises patriotism above the mundane world of party or interest politics to a plateau from which it can look down and pronounce life and death issues" (23).