The American Beast: Essays, 2012-2022

A vision of America in the age of Trump, from the brilliant mind of Jill Lepore.

The past decade has marked a shift in America's trajectory, pivoting around the monumental presidential election of 2016. Acclaimed author and leading historian Jill Lepore has been documenting the twists and turns as they unfold, beginning with the run-up to Trump's election through to the chaos and confusion left in its wake.

In this incisive collection of essays published in the New Yorker, Lepore writes with wit and warmth as she reflects on the issues of our time: from culture wars and the corrosion of the media to disruptive innovation and the future of technology, from the constitutional crisis surrounding gun rights to the racial history behind the language of insurrection. Balancing a penetrating personal lens with indispensable history, she makes sense of public life during an era of aberration and extremity that has left our political landscape forever changed.

Rooted in the everyday lives of its citizens, The American Beast offers an arresting portrait of America over the span of a decade, capturing the tumultuous relationship between the country's violent past and fractured present.