AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER  "I find myself thinking deeply about what it means to love America, as I surely do." -Dan Rather "A tonic for our times . . . Rather's writing shows why he has won the admiration of a new generation. In these essays, he gives voice to the marginalized and rips off the journalistic shield of objectivity to ring the alarm bell when he witnesses actions he fears undermine the principles of American democracy....

"From the Northern Rockies to the Southwest deserts, Betsy Gaines Quammen explores how myths shape our identities, heighten polarizations, and fracture our shared understanding of the world around us. As she investigates the origins and effects of myths of the American West, Gaines Quammen travels through small towns and big cities, engaging people and building relationships at every stop. Misperceptions about land, politics, liberty, and self-determination...

Explains how the influences of dreamers, zealots, hucksters, and superstitious groups shaped America's tendency toward a rich fantasy life, citing the roles of individuals from P.T. Barnum to Donald Trump in perpetuating conspiracy theories, self-delusion, and magical thinking.

"We've let the meaning of America be reduced to guesswork. It might not be too late. Our democratic republic is failing, and it shouldn't be a surprise. We can't fly a plane without training; we can't practice medicine without attending medical school. And yet we expect the American people to wield the full power of their citizenship, the product of the most revolutionary governmental thinking in human history, without any education. We no longer...

"Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham helps us understand the present moment in American politics and life by looking back at critical times in our history when hope overcame division and fear. Our current climate of partisan fury is not new, and in The Soul of America Meacham shows us how what Abraham Lincoln called the "better angels of our nature" have repeatedly won the day. Painting surprising portraits of presidents including, besides Lincoln,...

From National Book Award finalist Jean Thompson comes a mesmerizing, decades-spanning saga of one ordinary American family—proud, flawed, hopeful— whose story simultaneously captures the turbulent history of the country at large.

Over the course of a thirty-year career, Jean Thompson has been celebrated by critics as "a writer of extraordinary intelligence and sensitivity" (O, The Oprah Magazine), "an American Alice Munro" (The Wall

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The host of the NBC "Today Show" shares his favorite stories of citizens making a difference around the country.

Discusses what it means to be an American, including enjoying the freedoms offered in America, respecting others rights, and taking advantage of opportunities to become better citizens and persons.