That Old-Time Civil Religion

That Old-Time Civil Religion

The Tragedy of U.S. Foreign Policy: How America’s Civil Religion Betrayed the National Interest by Walter A. McDougall. Yale University Press, 2016. Hardcover, 424 pages, $30. Reviewed by Richard M. Gamble Walter McDougall begins his sober analysis of civil religion...
A Conflicted Idea of America

A Conflicted Idea of America

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part One: The Idea (1492–1799) Reviewed by Craig Bruce Smith “The United States is founded on a set of ideas,” says eminent historian Jill Lepore in the opening...
A Conflicted Idea of America

What Hath Lepore Wrought

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part Two, The People (1800–1865) Reviewed by Daniel N. Gullotta Sweeping histories of the United States by a single scholar always worry me. This is not to say...
A Conflicted Idea of America

Citizenship and the Fitful History of the American Way

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part Three, The State (1866–1945) Reviewed by Robert Greene II The rationale for Jill Lepore’s attempt at a new, fresh national narrative, These Truths, can be...
A Conflicted Idea of America

Recent Domestic History

These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part Four, The Machine (1946–2016) Reviewed by Lauren F. Turek Historian Jill Lepore opens her sweeping, synthetic overview of United States history with an...