Pairing authors with major political and cultural events in the 19th century United States, Levine's book challenges the perceived cohesion of "American literary nationalism." According to the UNC Press website, Levine's study proposes that by examining the discordance in literature, our "American literary history helps us to better understand and learn from writers trying to make sense of their own historical moments."

Eric Sundquist of UCLA has called Dislocating Race and Nation "rich and compelling" and John Stauffer of Harvard said that Levine's work is "one of the most important works of American literary history, cultural criticism, and the contested nature of nationalism to emerge in recent years."