Jill Lepore presents THESE TRUTHS: A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES in conversation with Robin Young at WBUR CitySpace

Harvard Book Store and WBUR welcome renowned historian and writer JILL LEPORE for the paperback release of her New York Times bestselling, critically acclaimed book, These Truths: A History of the United States. She will be joined in conversation by award-winning host of NPR’s “Here and Now,” ROBIN YOUNG.

About These Truths

Widely hailed for its “sweeping, sobering account of the American past” (New York Times Book Review), Jill Lepore’s one-volume history of America places truth itself―a devotion to facts, proof, and evidence―at the center of the nation’s history. The American experiment rests on three ideas―“these truths,” Jefferson called them―political equality, natural rights, and the sovereignty of the people. But has the nation, and democracy itself, delivered on that promise?

These Truths tells this uniquely American story, beginning in 1492, asking whether the course of events over more than five centuries has proven the nation’s truths, or belied them. To answer that question, Lepore wrestles with the state of American politics, the legacy of slavery, the persistence of inequality, and the nature of technological change. “A nation born in contradiction… will fight, forever, over the meaning of its history,” Lepore writes, but engaging in that struggle by studying the past is part of the work of citizenship. With These Truths, Lepore has produced a book that will shape our view of American history for decades to come.

Praise for These Truths

“[These Truths] captures the fullness of the past, where hope rises out of despair, renewal out of destruction, and forward momentum out of setbacks.” —Jack E. Davis, Chicago Tribune

“[Lepore’s] one-volume history is elegant, readable, sobering; it extends a steadying hand when a breakneck news cycle lurches from one event to another, confounding minds and churning stomachs.” —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times

“Those devoted to an honest reckoning with America’s past have their work cut out for them. Lepore’s book is a good place to start.” —H. W. Brands, Washington Post