In Real Americans, Jared Goldstein offers a bracing examination of the role played by the U.S. Constitution in the country's political consciousness. Goldstein's aim is to pierce the narrative of constitutional nationalism to show how citizens have invoked America's founding text to express “deeply conflicting conceptions of national identity” (2) and “justify hatred, violence, and exclusion” (4). He does so by exploring the beliefs of various right-wing movements that have resisted mainstream developments in basic law, as well as more diffuse social changes. Among the subjects covered: the Know Nothings, the Ku Klux Klan, the Tea Party, the ascendance of Judeo-Christian nationalism, and the modern militia movement.

Goldstein's reader-friendly approach is mostly descriptive rather than normative; he presents even the most illiberal visions of community in largely nonjudgmental terms. This allows readers to appreciate the capacious and disturbing nature of American political culture. At the same time, it leaves unstated what, if any, criteria ought to be used to evaluate the competing visions of power and community—particularly those that claim authority to dominate existing institutions rather than as an excuse to opt out of normal politics.

For the most part, Goldstein focuses on restoration mov