Jill Lepore

On January 6, 2021, more than two thousand rioters stormed the doors of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., hoping to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power from former president Donald Trump to his successor, Joseph Biden. The deaths, property damage, and vicious rampage that ensued were witnessed on live television as an unprecedented attack on the democratic process and those who strive to protect it. As an installment of UGA Press’s History in the Headlines series, this book offers a rich discussion between highly respected scholars on the historical backdrop and context for contemporary issues from the headlines. In addition to the historical context, this conversation demonstrates how historians speak to one another about contentious topics and how they contribute in meaningful ways to the public’s understanding of momentous events. This volume focuses on the historical context of the January 6 attack and employs a free-flowing conversation style that allows the historians a more unconventional format. The participants discuss if—and if so, how—historians should engage in public debates and what that engagement means to their roles as academic authorities in the public.

On January 6, 2021, more than two thousand rioters stormed the doors of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., hoping to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power from former president Donald Trump to his successor, Joseph Biden. The deaths, property damage, and vicious rampage that ensued were witnessed on live television as an unprecedented attack on the democratic process and those who strive to protect it. As an installment of UGA Press’s History in the Headlines series, this book offers a rich discussion between highly respected scholars on the historical backdrop and context for contemporary issues from the headlines. In addition to the historical context, this conversation demonstrates how historians speak to one another about contentious topics and how they contribute in meaningful ways to the public’s understanding of momentous events. This volume focuses on the historical context of the January 6 attack and employs a free-flowing conversation style that allows the historians a more unconventional format. The participants discuss if—and if so, how—historians should engage in public debates and what that engagement means to their roles as academic authorities in the public.

An exploration of the significant role that print media played in the American Revolution and the formation of the United States Declaring the Revolution explores how the thirteen American colonies used printed materials to achieve their independence from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence did not appear in isolation; it was one in a long series of declaratory printings—from the Stamp Act in 1765 to the Treaty of Paris in 1783—that confronted America’s relationship to its parent country. Distributed pamphlets, broadsides, books, journals, handbills, engravings, articles, speeches, laws, and songs all played a part in what became the American Revolution. By providing a comprehensive, visually rich overview of what was then published, Declaring the Revolution recreates the eighteenth-century milieu of printings, printers, words, and writers that bridged the ideas of the Enlightenment with the ideals of the Declaration of Independence and, consequently, the bloody, eight-year war that was fought in pursuit of these ideals. An essential addition to early American studies, Declaring the Revolution uses printed primary sources, authentically reproduced, to explain the relation between the war with Britain, American Revolution, and the Declaration of Independence. Featuring a foreword by Jill Lepore and essays by twelve award-winning historians, this book makes the case that independence was not possible without the publications that induced it. Distributed for the National Archives Foundation Exhibition Schedule: National Archives Museum, Washington, DC (Summer 2026) JFK Presidential Library, Boston, MA (Summer 2026) FDR Presidential Library, Hyde Park, NY (Summer 2026)

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER On the 250th anniversary of America's founding - a landmark history of the US Constitution for a troubling new era. The US Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world - and one of the most difficult to amend. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been proposed since 1789, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. Tellingly, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without amendment, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential power. Leading Harvard historian Jill Lepore captures the stories of generations of ordinary people who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend their nation. Recounting the history of America through centuries of efforts to realize the promise of the Constitution, we witness how nearly all those bids have failed. We the People is the sweeping account of a struggle, arguing that the Constitution was never intended to be preserved, but was expected to be gradually altered. At a time when the risk of political violence is all too real, it hints at the prospects for a better, amended America.

'The Artificial State is the factory farming of humans, the sorting and segmenting, the isolation and alienation, the destruction of both human community and the capacity for self-government', writes the prizewinning historian Jill Lepore in her astounding, Orwellian account of how technology has undermined democracy around the world. Tracing the rise and fall of what she calls the 'Artificial State' over more than a century, Lepore examines how political campaigns have been reduced to the digital manipulation of attention-mining algorithms, how multinational corporations control public discourse, and how the era of the liberal nation-state is coming to an end, replaced by the rule of artificially intelligent machines. In a luminous, anguished rumination on everything from robot rights and Elon Musk’s origins to what data centres cost wildlife, Lepore offers a vantage and a history wholly missing from the debate about the decay of democracy, the destruction of the natural world, and the future of humanity.

Americans are descended from slaves and slave owners, from conquerors and the conquered, from immigrants and from people who have fought to end immigration. "A nation born in contradiction will fight forever over the meaning of its history," Lepore writes. “Clear in purpose and elegant in design" (TLS), These Truths observes, "The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden.” "It can’t be shirked. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it.

In this groundbreaking contribution to American history spanning three tumultuous centuries-beginning in the 1780s and concluding with the Supreme Court era of Chief Justice Roberts-Jill Lepore, the bestselling author of These Truths, notes that the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971, the same year that conservatives invented a theory of constitutional theory of "originalism" which has since provided the bulwark of reactionary thought in America. Suffocating the very process of the Amendment was not the original intention of the Founding Fathers, who believed that the Amendment itself was so foundational to the American constitutional tradition that it was to be used as a self-regulatory mechanism to bring about necessary political changes. In reality, the reverse has occurred. In this panoramic work of American history-rich with characters and plot and even suspense-Lepore argues that the Supreme Court has usurped the power of the amendment. In doing so, it has throttled the power of the states, undermined the idea of representative government, increased the polarization of American politics, contributed to political violence, and led to the very obsolescence of the U.S. Constitution. In the tradition of Charles A. Beard's An Economic Interpretation of the United States, Lepore presents her work with freshness and a vision of radical thought that will be debated for years to come.

The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world but also one of the most difficult to amend. Jill Lepore, Harvard professor of history and law, explains why in We the People, the most original history of the Constitution in decades--and an essential companion to her landmark history of the United States, These Truths. Published on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding--the anniversary, too, of the first state constitutions--We the People offers a wholly new history of the Constitution. "One of the Constitution's founding purposes was to prevent change," Lepore writes. "Another was to allow for change without violence." Relying on the extraordinary database she has assembled at the Amendments Project, Lepore recounts centuries of attempts, mostly by ordinary Americans, to realize the promise of the Constitution. Yet nearly all those efforts have failed. Although nearly twelve thousand amendments have been introduced in Congress since 1789, and thousands more have been proposed outside its doors, only twenty-seven have ever been ratified. More troubling, the Constitution has not been meaningfully amended since 1971. Without recourse to amendment, she argues, the risk of political violence rises. So does the risk of constitutional change by presidential or judicial fiat. Challenging both the Supreme Court's monopoly on constitutional interpretation and the flawed theory of "originalism," Lepore contends in this "gripping and unfamiliar story of our own past" that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. The framers never intended for the Constitution to be preserved, like a butterfly, under glass, Lepore argues, but expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, hoping to mend America by amending its Constitution through an orderly deliberative and democratic process. Lepore's remarkable history seeks, too, to rekindle a sense of constitutional possibility. Congressman Jamie Raskin writes that Lepore "has thrown us a lifeline, a way of seeing the Constitution neither as an authoritarian straitjacket nor a foolproof magic amulet but as the arena of fierce, logical, passionate, and often deadly struggle for a more perfect union." At a time when the Constitution's vulnerability is all too evident, and the risk of political violence all too real, We the People, with its shimmering prose and pioneering research, hints at the prospects for a better constitutional future, an amended America.

AS HEARD ON RADIO 4'S WOMEN'S HOUR'A stunning mosaic of contemporary America' Fintan O'Toole'Essential reading, with quick insights and bomblets of surprise' TLS A panoptical vision of modern America, from the brilliant mind of Jill Lepore. The 2010s marked a shift in America's trajectory, beginning with the run-up to Donald Trump's election, through to the chaos and confusion left in its wake. With the wit and verve that has made her the acclaimed national historian of a generation, Jill Lepore reflects on the consuming fissures of this era: culture wars and media corrosion; disruptive innovation and techno-utopianism; constitutional crises surrounding gun rights and a reckoning with a deep history of racial violence. These essays make sense of American life in a moment of polarization, capturing the tumultuous relationship between the country's violent past and fractured present.Praise for Jill Lepore:'The pre-eminent historian of forgotten tales from America's past' David Runciman'A person can't help but feel inspired by the riveting intelligence and joyful curiosity of Lepore' George Saunders'Lepore writes history like a poet' Dan Snow'Lepore is that rare combination in modern life of intellect, originality and style' Amanda Foreman

Few, if any, historians have brought such insight, wisdom, and empathy to public discourse as Jill Lepore. Arriving at The New Yorker in 2005, Lepore, with her panoptical range and razor-sharp style, brought a transporting freshness and a literary vivacity to everything from profiles of long-dead writers to urgent constitutional analysis to an unsparing scrutiny of the woeful affairs of the nation itself. The astonishing essays collected in The Deadline offer a prismatic portrait of Americans' techno-utopianism, frantic fractiousness, and unprecedented--but armed--aimlessness. From lockdowns and race commissions to Bratz dolls and bicycles, to the losses that haunt Lepore's life, these essays again and again cross what she calls the deadline, the "river of time that divides the quick from the dead." Echoing Gore Vidal's United States in its massive intellectual erudition, The Deadline, with its remarkable juxtaposition of the political and the personal, challenges the very nature of the essay--and of history--itself.

America the Beautiful showcases the stunning spaces closest to our nation’s heart - from the woods that Davy Crocket once called home in the Great Valley of Appalachia to the breathtaking sweep of California’s Big Sur coast to the wilds of Alaska. Now in an appealing giftable package, this image collection celebrates our nation’s natural and cultural history, as well as the people who have made this country what it is. Featuring a wide range of images including the Arikara Nation in the early 1900s and scientists preparing for travel to Mars on a Hawaiian island, this stunning book also includes the voices of celebrities, icons, and activists from every state. Each stunning image reveals what makes each state special, with commentary from such voices as Maya Rudolph (California), Jimmy Buffet (Florida), James Earl Jones (Michigan), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (North Carolina), Ronda Rousey (North Dakota), and the late Loretta Lynn (Kentucky). Curated from more than 135 years of National Geographic’s vaunted archives, America the Beautiful showcases the splendor of this great nation as only National Geographic can, with a dramatic combination of modern and historical imagery. Both profound and inspiring, this book is for everyone who has ever marveled at the beauty of the United States.

AS HEARD ON RADIO 4'S WOMEN'S HOUR'America's greatest living essayist . . . Wonderful' Fintan O'TooleA panoptical vision of modern America, from the brilliant mind of Jill Lepore. The past decade has marked a shift in America's trajectory. Jill Lepore, the acclaimed writer and New Yorker columnist, has been tracing its contested storylines in real time, beginning with the run-up to Donald Trump's election, through to the chaos and confusion left in its wake. Here we encounter Americans' rising techno-utopianism, frantic fractiousness, and unprecedented - but armed - aimlessness. With the wit and verve that has made her the acclaimed national historian of a generation, these essays reflect on the consuming public fissures of this era: culture wars and the corrosion of the media; disruptive innovation and the future of technology; constitutional crises surrounding gun rights and the racial history behind the very language of insurrection. Balancing a penetrating personal lens with indispensable history, she makes sense of life in a moment of aberration and extremity that has left our political landscape forever changed. The American Beast offers an arresting portrait of America, capturing the tumultuous relationship between the country's violent past and fractured present.

Few, if any, historians have brought such insight, wisdom, and empathy to public discourse as Jill Lepore. Arriving at The New Yorker in 2005, Lepore, with her panoptical range and razor-sharp style, brought a transporting freshness and a literary vivacity to everything from profiles of long-dead writers to urgent constitutional analysis to an unsparing scrutiny of the woeful affairs of the nation itself. The astonishing essays collected in The Deadline offer a prismatic portrait of Americans' techno-utopianism, frantic fractiousness, and unprecedented--but armed--aimlessness. From lockdowns and race commissions to Bratz dolls and bicycles, to the losses that haunt Lepore's life, these essays again and again cross what she calls the deadline, the "river of time that divides the quick from the dead." Echoing Gore Vidal's United States in its massive intellectual erudition, The Deadline, with its remarkable juxtaposition of the political and the personal, challenges the very nature of the essay--and of history--itself.