The Digital Evolution of an American Identity details how the concept of American individualism is challenged by the digital revolution. As digital media alter our print-dominant culture, assumptions regarding the relationship of the individual to the larger community become increasingly problematic. Current arguments regarding freedom of speech and confusion about what is meant by privacy illustrate the nature of the challenge.

C. Waite defines individualism as the ways in which the American culture traditionally strives to balance the rights of the individual against the...