The Case for Nationalism: How It Made Us Powerful, United, and Free

Overview
Rich Lowry argues that nationalism is the central, positive force behind the United States' rise to power, cohesion, and liberty. He defines nationalism as the conviction that a people who share a common political identity ought to have a sovereign nation where that identity can flourish. For Lowry, this is distinct from chauvinism or ethnic exclusion; it is a civic loyalty that builds institutions, creates solidarity, and makes democracy possible.
The book traces how a strong national idea, backed by effective national institutions and a shared public culture, turned a collection of colonies and states into a world-leading republic. Lowry contends that nationalism has been the engine of American modernization, unifying diverse peoples and enabling collective action on challenges from economic development to wartime mobilization.

Core Arguments
Lowry maintains that nationalism undergirds the American political tradition by making government meaningful and accountable to a defined demos. The Constitution, federal institutions, and national policies emerge as expressions of a people deciding to govern themselves together, rather than as mere aggregations of local interests. Nationalism, in his view, creates the space in which liberty can be protected; a robust nation-state can defend rights, sustain markets, and enforce the rule of law more effectively than a fragmented or purely cosmopolitan order.
He argues that economic growth and national power flowed from the creation of a national market, federal investments in infrastructure, and unified policy during crises. National leadership enabled mass education, a common language of public life, and a sense of shared destiny, which together promoted social mobility and civic integration.

Historical Illustrations
Lowry marshals episodes from American history to show nationalism's constructive effects. He credits the Founding with forging a political nation out of competing states, praises the Civil War as a test that reaffirmed national unity and abolished slavery, and highlights World War II as a moment when national mobilization preserved American freedom and global order. He also points to the New Deal and the twentieth-century expansion of federal capacity as necessary national responses to economic and social crises.
Throughout these narratives, Lowry emphasizes leaders like Hamilton, Lincoln, and Roosevelt who strengthened national institutions and appealed to a sense of common purpose. He uses these examples to show how nationalism can reconcile liberty with collective problem-solving rather than subordinating the individual to some abstract collectivist ideal.

Responses to Criticisms
Lowry confronts common objections that nationalism inevitably leads to xenophobia, imperialism, or authoritarianism. He distinguishes civic nationalism, grounded in shared political principles and membership, from racial or exclusionary ideologies, arguing the former is compatible with immigration, pluralism, and liberal rights. He acknowledges historical abuses tied to aggressive forms of nationalism but insists those are misuses rather than inevitable consequences.
He also criticizes elite cosmopolitanism and technocratic global governance for undermining democratic accountability and national sovereignty. Lowry contends that when elites dismiss national attachments as parochial, they erode the social bonds that sustain liberal institutions, fueling populist backlash.

Contemporary Implications
The book advocates reclaiming a positive, patriotic nationalism as a civic force that can animate public life and public policy. Lowry suggests policies that prioritize national cohesion: secure borders, a selective but sustaining immigration system, national civic education, and a government willing to act at scale to protect citizens' welfare and security. He urges political movements to embrace national identity rather than pretend pluralism eliminates the need for a shared public culture.
Lowry's intervention seeks to reframe the debate about nationhood by arguing that patriotism and democratic freedom are mutually reinforcing when channeled through inclusive, constitutional nationalism. The book is a call to reaffirm the nation as the primary vehicle for political solidarity, competence, and liberty.