New PPI Report Finds Premier Academic Journal Offers a Narrow, Ideological View of America

January 22, 2026
Richard D. Kahlenberg
Lief Lin

WASHINGTON — The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) today released a new report warning that American Quarterly, the flagship journal of the American Studies Association, presents an overwhelmingly critical and unbalanced view of American society, failing to reflect the nation’s full historical and cultural complexity. As cultural and historical debates intensify, the report finds that a leading academic journal is shaping the understanding of America’s story through a consistently negative and ideologically narrow lens.

The report, titled “The Distortion of American Studies: How the Field’s Leading Journal Has Embraced a Worldview as Slanted as Donald Trump’s,” evaluates 96 articles published between 2022 and 2024. It finds that 80% of the journal’s content was critical of America, 20% neutral, and not a single article offered a positive portrayal of the American experience.

“In the same way Donald Trump whitewashes America’s flaws, this journal effectively erases its virtues,” said Richard D. Kahlenberg, Director of PPI’s American Identity Project and co-author of the report. “Academic inquiry should be honest and wide-ranging, not ideologically blinkered. When one of the field’s most influential publications excludes virtually any acknowledgment of American progress or ideals, it does a disservice to students, educators, and the country itself.”

Authored by Kahlenberg and PPI Policy Research Fellow Lief Lin, the report warns that this imbalance in scholarship risks undermining civic cohesion, fueling public mistrust in higher education, and distorting curricula across universities and K–12 classrooms. While rigorous critique is essential to understanding America’s past and present, the authors argue that academic institutions must also highlight the values, ideas, and movements that have driven American progress.

Key findings from the report include:

Of the 96 essays reviewed, 77 were coded as “critical,” 19 as “neutral,” and zero as “positive.”
The most common critiques involved racism, imperialism, and classism, while discussions of American innovation, democratic development, or cultural influence were notably absent.
Even “neutral” articles often described America as oppressive before highlighting individual resistance or critique.
The journal frequently used inaccessible jargon, limiting broader engagement and reinforcing ideological gatekeeping in the academy.
The worldview promoted by American Quarterly is already influencing curricula at elite institutions and seeping into K–12 instruction through works like the 1619 Project.

Rather than calling for government intervention, the report urges reform from within the academy. It highlights the importance of a balanced and pluralistic approach to scholarship, one that embraces honest debate, intellectual rigor, and a full accounting of America’s failures and triumphs.

“A fair and complete American studies curriculum should reflect the civil rights movement as much as slavery, democratic ideals as well as political failings, and cultural exports alongside cultural critiques,” said Kahlenberg. “That full picture matters, not just for intellectual integrity, but for sustaining the democratic project itself.”

Read and download the report here.

Founded in 1989, PPI is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Find an expert and learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org. Follow us @ppi.

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Media Contact: Ian O’Keefe – iokeefe@ppionline.org