Jill Lepore

A history of American ideas about life and death from before the cradle to beyond the grave.

"From the best-selling author of These Truths, a work that examines the dilemma of nationalism and the erosion of liberalism in the twenty-first century. At a time of much despair over the future of liberal democracy, Harvard historian Jill Lepore makes a stirring case for the nation in This America. Since the end of the Cold War, Lepore writes, American historians have largely retreated from the idea of 'the nation', in part because postmodernism...

A study of the ways in which language was used in the early American republic to define national character and shape national boundaries focuses on the contributions of seven men who worked with alphabets, codes, and signs. "What ties Americans to one another? Not race, religion, or ethnicity. At the nation's founding, some commentators wondered whether adopting a common tongue might help bind the newly United States together. "A national language...

"A unique, panoramic look at women's history in the United States through the lens of ordinary objects from, by, and for extraordinary women. Featuring more than 280 artifacts from 16 Smithsonian museums and archives, and more than 135 essays from 95 Smithsonian authors, this book tells women's history as only the Smithsonian can." --