Kohn shows how Americans and Canadians often referred to each other as members of the same "family," sharing the same "blood," and drew upon the common lexicon of Anglo-Saxon rhetoric to undermine old rivalries and underscore shared interests.

At the end of the nineteenth century lingering notions of anglophobia and "Manifest Destiny" caused Americans to look upon the British colony to the north as a dangerous and unnatural entity. At the same time many Canadians used the familiar ideas of Loyalism, imperialism, and anti-Americanism to differentiate their Dominion from the republic to the south. America's rise to world power status and the Anglo-American rapprochement, however, forced Americans and Canadians to adapt to a new international reality. In This Kindred People Edward Kohn demonstrates that emphasizing their shared language, civilization, and forms of government enabled many English-speaking North Americans to find common ground by drawing on a shared idea of Anglo-Saxonism. Kohn shows how Americans and Canadians often referred to each other as members of the same "family," sharing the same "blood," and drew upon the common lexicon of Anglo-Saxon rhetoric to undermine old rivalries and underscore shared interests. Though the predominance of Anglo-Saxonism proved short-lived, it left a legacy of Canadian-American goodwill as both nations accepted their shared destiny on the continent. Kohn argues that this new Canadian-American understanding fostered the Anglo-American "special relationship" that shaped the twentieth century.