The preeminent historians of the founding era speak their mind on the anniversary of the United States’ birth In these powerful and personal essays, some of the most celebrated historians of the American Revolutionary era reflect on the meaning of 1776 to the nation in 2026, offering fresh insights and food for thought on every page. They tackle the most pressing topics that Americans debated in 1776 and continue to debate today: the meaning of democracy; the nature of information wars; immigration and the rights and obligations of citizenship; race and slavery; public health; the various and conflicting legacies of the founders; and the shifting nature of commemoration itself. Like the Revolutionary generation they know so well, on some issues these scholarly authorities find themselves largely in accord; on others they vehemently disagree. This is historical debate at its most urgent. Contributors : Allison Bigelow * T. H. Breen * Katherine Carté * Lindsay M. Chervinsky * Marlene L. Daut * Andrew M. Davenport * Christa Dierksheide * Lauren Duval * Joanne B. Freeman * Annette Gordon-Reed * Eliga H. Gould * Patrick Griffin * Nicholas Guyatt * Ricardo A. Herrera * Woody Holton * Brendan McConville * Michael A. McDonnell * Peter S. Onuf * Robert G. Parkinson * Teresa R. Pollak * John A. Ragosta * Bertrand Van Ruymbeke * Rosemarie Zagarri   In this surprising and illuminating collection, an all-star lineup of our finest historians of America delivers essays at once profound and personal. Two and a half centuries after the Declaration of Independence, we are a nation in search of our soul, and this book offers us some much-needed guidance through the tangles of the present. ? Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle The American Revolution at 250 is an enlightening and wide-ranging collection of essays from leading scholars that will at times provoke, sometimes surprise, and ultimately inspire readers as they contemplate the meaning and legacy of the nation?s birth. ? Patrick Spero, Chief Executive Officer of the American Philosophical Society and the author of The Scientist Turned Spy: André Michaux, Thomas Jefferson, and the Conspiracy of 1793 The illuminating and accessible essays by influential historians that comprise this volume confront the inescapable relevance, significance, and controversy linking 1776 and 2026.? Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College, author of Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution The illuminating and accessible essays by influential historians that comprise this volume confront the inescapable relevance, significance, and controversy linking 1776 and 2026.― Mary Sarah Bilder, Boston College, author of Female Genius: Eliza Harriot and George Washington at the Dawn of the Constitution Primarily a literary and intellectual historian of the Caribbean, Marlene Daut writes about the history of the Haitian Revolution, literary cultures of the greater Caribbean, and racial politics in global media, especially as appears in film and television.