1620

When and where was America founded? Was it in Virginia in 1619, when a pirate ship landed a group of captive Africans at Jamestown? So asserted the New York Times in August 2019 when it announced its 1619 Project. The Times set out to transform history by tracing American institutions, culture, and prosperity to that pirate ship and the exploitation of African Americans that followed. A controversy erupted, but the Times didn’t back down. Instead the authors ballooned their original magazine supplement into a 600-page book.   Peter Wood’s 1620 was a point-by-point response to the 1619 Project. He argued that the proper starting point for the American story is 1620, with the signing of the Mayflower Compact aboard ship before the Pilgrims set foot in the Massachusetts wilderness. The quintessential ideas of American self-government and ordered liberty grew from the deliberate actions of those Mayflower immigrants. In this new edition of 1620, Wood brings the story up to date, including the glittering prizes for 1619 pseudo-history, the deepening disputes, and the roles played by Presidents Trump and Biden.  Much of the controversy involves education. Schools across the country raced to adopt the Times’ radical revision of history as part of their curricula. Parents in many districts have rebelled. Should children be taught that America is a four-hundred-year-old system of racist oppression? Or should they learn that what has always made America exceptional is our pursuit of liberty and justice for all?