The American Beast : Essays, 2012-2022

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