America in 25 Revolutions

About this book

From historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff, America in 25 Revolutions follows America's 250-year quest to fulfill the founders' promise of a nation where all are created equal, introducing us to the ordinary champions who moved progress forward. The Founding is only the start. America's history is one of revolutions, plural. Today we recognize that America's founding creed, "all men are created equal," was imperfect and incomplete in 1776, but the story of how subsequent generations made those words real is more dramatic and more unpredictable than you ever guessed. As the country marks its 250th birthday, Pulitzer Prize finalist Garrett M. Graff offers an inspiring and challenging new account of our past--and what it means for our future. As the country celebrates its 250th anniversary, acclaimed historian Garrett M. Graff immerses us in the legendary--and the forgotten--milestones in Americans' ongoing quest to create a more perfect union. Since our founding in 1776, Americans have never stopped fighting for revolutionary advances to get closer to our founding promise of a nation where all are created and treated equal. America in 25 Revolutions tells their stories. The rights, freedoms, and opportunities so many of us now enjoy began as creative acts of imagination by individuals and groups excluded from the country's founding principles. Progress has often been hard and come at great cost; many times, efforts to enshrine new rights and freedoms failed multiple times and efforts continued for years. From the Reconstruction Amendments in the 1860s to the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, from Brown v. Board of Education to the end of Jewish quotas at elite universities, from the Social Security Act to the Americans with Disabilities Act, the stories in America in 25 Revolutions offer critical lessons for trying times in the United States. The opportunities and liberties so many of us now enjoy began as creative acts of imagination by individuals and groups excluded from the country's ideals. Their efforts often came at great cost; many times, revolutions failed and were set back for decades or longer, only to later triumph through surprising pivots and coalitions. America in 25 Revolutions proves that progress isn't linear nor is it constant, but the challenge--and hope--our country delivers to each generation is the chance to leave the country better than it was.