The American Experiment
Dialogues on a Dream
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES AND WALL STREET JOURNAL BESTSELLER
The capstone book in a trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of How to Lead and The American Story and host of Bloomberg TV’s The David Rubenstein Show—American icons and historians on the ever-evolving American experiment, featuring Ken Burns, Madeleine Albright, Wynton Marsalis, Billie Jean King, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and many more.
In this lively collection of conversations—the third in a series from David Rubenstein—some of our nations’ greatest minds explore the inspiring story of America as a grand experiment in democracy, culture, innovation, and ideas.
-Jill Lepore on the promise of America
-Madeleine Albright on the American immigrant
-Ken Burns on war
-Henry Louis Gates Jr. on reconstruction
-Elaine Weiss on suffrage
-John Meacham on civil rights
-Walter Isaacson on innovation
-David McCullough on the Wright Brothers
-John Barry on pandemics and public health
-Wynton Marsalis on music
-Billie Jean King on sports
-Rita Moreno on film
Exploring the diverse make-up of our country’s DNA through interviews with Pulitzer Prize–winning historians, diplomats, music legends, and sports giants, The American Experiment captures the dynamic arc of a young country reinventing itself in real-time. Through these enlightening conversations, the American spirit comes alive, revealing the setbacks, suffering, invention, ingenuity, and social movements that continue to shape our vision of what America is—and what it can be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Rubenstein follows The American Story with another stimulating collection of interviews with prominent historians and public figures. Focusing on 13 "key genes," including freedom of speech, immigration, and the American dream, that have "enabled the American Experiment to blossom," Rubenstein and his interview subjects touch on a wide range of topics, including whether U.S. capitalism would have developed differently without slavery, and the crucial role Al Gore played in "open up the Internet to people who want to dial in and use it for personal or commercial reasons." Other notable discussions include Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor on the need for better civic education in the U.S., West Side Story star Rita Moreno on her life, and Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Reconstruction. In one of the book's most memorable conversations, Medal of Honor recipient Jack Jacobs discusses his parents' horror at his decision to enlist and fight in the Vietnam War after graduating from college, and describes the Viet Cong ambush from which he rescued several wounded colleagues, despite taking shrapnel to the head ("the least significant portion of my body," Jacobs quips). Enriched by the diversity of its interviewees and Rubenstein's simple yet illuminating prompts ("Explain the Tet Offensive"; "When there were just thirteen colonies, did any let women vote?"), this is a rewarding survey of what makes America tick.
