American Rule

In American Rule, writer and political analyst Jared Yates Sexton takes readers through American history to examine the myths the country has long told about itself. His starting point is the recent reckoning over political corruption, deep inequality and violent bigotry, which leaves many asking how the nation got here and how it can move forward.

Sexton argues that the answers depend on an honest look at the past and at how that past has been covered up. In his account, people in power have abused and subjugated others since the nation's earliest days, and stories of America's unique goodness have both made that injustice possible and kept the truth buried for generations.

Combining extensive research with narrative storytelling, the book moves through each era of growth and change that led to the present. Along the way it exposes the foundational myths at the center of the American imagination, and it calls on readers to chart a different path forward.