Which sentence from the excerpt best reveals the context
of the excerpt?
Read the excerpt from "A Quilt of a Country."
Once these disparate parts were held together by a
common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the
electrified fence of communism. With the end of the cold
war there was the creeping concern that without a focus for
hatred and distrust, a sense of national identity would
evaporate, that the left side of the hyphen-African-
American, Mexican-American, Irish-American—would
overwhelm the right. And slow-growing domestic traumas
like economic unrest and increasing crime seemed more
likely to emphasize division than community. Today the
citizens of the United States have come together once
more because of armed conflict and enemy attack
O Once these disparate parts were held together by a
common enemy, by the fault lines of world wars and the
electrified fence of communism.
With the end of the cold war there was the creeping
concern that without a focus for hatred and distrust, a
sense of national identity would evaporate, that the left
side of the hyphen-African-American, Mexican-
American, Irish-American—would overwhelm the right.
And slow-growing domestic traumas like economic
unrest and increasing crime seemed more likely to
emphasize division than community.
O Today the citizens of the United States have come
together once more because of armed conflict and
enemy attack