Gary Gerstle lays a lot of blame on Theodore Rosevelt in American Crucible. Rosevelt is the catalyst for the current American Nationalism. Gerstle focuses on two types of nationalism Civic and Racial. He charts the rise, fall and intertwining of each one of them in American history. The dual nature of American Nationalism is traced from the Spanish-American War to the age of Obama. Observations of different Presidents' rhetoric or language and policies show the nations nationalistic views in that era. Gerstle shows why and how American nationalism is the way it is in the modern day.