In an extended reflection that opens the book, Hofstadter notes that 'violence has been frequent, voluminous, almost commonplace' in American history, yet he observes a kind of collective amnesia regarding such events in the country's citizenry.
He states: 'For historians violence is a difficult subject, diffuse and hard to cope with. It is committed by isolated individuals, by small groups, and by large mobs; it is directed against individuals and crowds alike; it is undertaken for a variety of purposes (and at times for no discernible rational purpose at all).'
Hofstadter highlights the sheer variety of violence in America, which makes coherent explanations elusive, emphasizing the challenges historians face in understanding its complexity.
The collective forgetting of historical violence reflects a broader societal tendency to overlook discomforting parts of American history, complicating our ability to learn from the past.
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