Disc jockey and author Pete Fornatale describes "America" as one of Paul Simon's "greatest writing achievements in this phase of his career". In 2014, a "Rolling Stone" readers poll ranked it fourth among the duo's best compositions, with the magazine writing, "it captured America's sense of restlessness and confusion during the year that saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, as well as the escalation of the war in Vietnam", declaring it one of their most "beloved" songs. Amy S. of ClassicRockHistory defined "America" as Simon and Garfunkel's best song. The author described the song "America" as "perhaps the most representative of Simon &amp; Garfunkel's music: wistful and optimistic, personal and universal, and most of all, uniquely American."