It has now been several decades since the image of American Culture as a melting pot first came under attack.  But the multiculturalist discourse of the 1980s and the break-up of Cold War politics at the end of the decade have produced a new challenge to the idea of the United States as an indivisible nation. Concurrently, the need to promote, construct or theorize the unity of American culture has to some become increasingly urgent. While there is no agreement on the nature of these new political and culture conditions, many seem to respond, whether negatively or positively, to the notion that Americans now find themselves “after consensus.” We must also ask, however, if there every truly was consensus. Is the consensus debate merely a new way of speaking about a characteristic American problem, or is it symptomatic of more fundamental changes?

Originating as papers presented at the 1997 Conference of the Nordica Association for American Studies held at Göteborg University, the essays in this volume address the “after consensus” theme from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.