Kurtz gives the game away in his discussion of “American exceptionalism,” which he defines as “the notion that America is freer and more democratic than any other nation, and for that reason, a model, vindicator, and at times the chief defender of ordered liberty and self-government in the world.” That notion, he says, is absent from the AP U.S. history framework. An intelligent reader–indeed, an intelligent student–might well say: yes, if that’s the accepted definition of “American exceptionalism,” good riddance. That definition of exceptionalism has become an ideological shibboleth, wielded as a weapon against anyone who would dare to subject America’s influence in the real world, for good or ill, to close examination.