The implosion of American federalism

the long version

At a time of unprecedented national power, why do so many Americans believe that our nationhood is fragile and precarious? Why the talk -- among politicians, academics, and jurists -- of "coups d'etat," of culture wars, of confederation, of constitutional breakdown? In this wide-ranging book, Robert Nagel proposes a surprising answer: that anxiety about national unity is caused by centralization itself. Moreover, he proposes that this anxiety has dangerous cultural consequences that are, in an implosive cycle, pushing the country toward ever greater centralization. - Back cover.