Enjoy booktv now and over the weekend on cspan2. [inaudible conversations] good evening, everybody. Welcome to the American Enterprise institute. On youve all of income director of social cultural and constitutional studies here at aei, and it is my very great pleasure to welcome you to a discussion of land of hope a one volume history of a records bye Great American historian wildred mcclay. Its a book that comes at a time when questions of who we are as people of whether we can have a unifying rather than a divisive story and of how to tell the story of our country in in a wy that neither sells short our National Greatness nor whitewashes our national sins, are really life questions in our politics and what may be an unusual way. This book is clearly intended to speak to just that moment so the can be a better time to hear from bill about a a sense of hw to approach these questions. Bill mcclay is a national treasure. So. Is first and foremost teacher. He holds the blankenship chair and history of liberty at the rivers of a plumber. He and beloved scores of students past and present university vocal mcguirk is one of the great writers of American History. His book the masters self, the masterless, self and society in modern america was judged the best book in American Intellectual history the u. S. Published by the organization of american historians among us under wonderful books of American History are a students guide to u. S. History, figures in the carpet and finally the human person in the american past and why this matters, chuc conjunctiva, gary and civic life in modern america. Hes also been a historian active in the service of his country. Bill served for 11 years on the National Council of the humanities which is the Advisory Board of the National Endowment to the humanities. Hes a member of the u. S. Sammy the Commission Planning the official public commemoration of americas 250th anniversary in 2026. You as a graduate of st. Johns college in an annapolis. He received his phd in history from johns hopkins. With this latest book hes made an extremely contribution to our capacity to understand ourselves. Land of hope describes itself as an invitation to the Great American story and it exists to fill a gap. Theres not exactly the shortage of books about American History of course but an accessible narrative account of the art of the american story that understands itself as an invitation to the americans looking to become a former citizen of his country is something that we are always in need of. Our format will be very simple. Bill will talk about the book for a bit picky and i will then chat about it briefly and then we will invite all get into that conversation through questions and answers. So with that lets welcome bill mcclay. [applause] this is my first visit to the new and improved aei. Im finding my way around. Its wonderful to be here. This is an institution i hold very dear and have for many years, and i think the fact appointed yuval to this important post is a very good sign about the future. Im going to stick this up here as i may not be using it. Yuval mention it is introduction some of what i was going to say about reasons why i wrote the book, because for someone in the academy to do, write a book like this is a pretty insane proposition. Certainly not anything thats going to help your career. I didnt seek to use it to do that. But it did seem to me that are we okay . It did seem to me that we have a problem. The profession, historical profession of which i am a part has made i think many advances im not sure it will trash the historical profession although we may do that later, it made many advances particularly in articulating the experiences of the inarticulate of the marginalized, of those who have been neglected by historical studies in the past. But the result which is not necessarily the intention, intended result but the result has been a fragmented, fractured, incoherent discontinuous understanding of our past. One that fails to convey to young people the larger arc of the history as yuval put it. Or it reflects the outlook of writers like who is somewhat questionably researched and politically contentious peoples history of United States has sold almost 3 million copies. I just checked on this. Its approaching 3 million. And has been treated as authoritative even in some of the best public and private high schools, other respectable classrooms. The gist of this, the thrust of it is that we are losing a general grasp on the public meaning of her own history. Professional American History is made many advances in its approaches through topics that have been neglected in the past. But what now is neglected is a broad shared historical consciousness, Public Knowledge that we need to be able to think of ourselves as a coherent political entity to think of ourselves as citizens, to prepare people for citizenship. Not just in terms of civics 101 understanding of citizenship as a set of particular Political Rights and responsibilities but in the sense of membership, of being members of the society, members of the country, part of a great story of which america, the american story is constituted. So this is a state of affairs that cant go on without producing serious consequences. The great nation needs and deserves a great narrative, needs to convey that narrative through the rising generations to do so effectively. If two sustain itself and face the challenges that are inevitably thrown out with the presence of the future. It goes without saying that the story, this retelling cannot be a fairy tale. It cant whitewash the past. It has to be truthful to be convincing. But theres no necessary connection between a truthful account doesnt excuse me, theres no necessary contradiction between truthful account and an aspiring what especially the subject is American History. Weve ceased to provide that, either one either truthful or convincing or inspiring in our schools today. So this commendation of truthfulness and inspiration is really what i was after in land of hope wichita itself begins to convey. Im going to unpack that a little more as i go. I hope you forgive me im going to read some passages from book to get a sense of the field of it, the flavor of it the tone because i was when the hardest things about writing was to find the right pitch that would be accessible to High School Students because after all they are ultimately, this is ultimately high school textbook. Ive have become delighted, im amazed at the reception that it is gotten with general readers, you know, the adult reading public for lack of a better term. But it truly meant for young people. Its meant to compete with not just howard zinn but the glitzy and hyper extensive textbooks that are on offer. The underlying aims of the book are clear in the outset, which is an epigraph that i borrowed from essay, a a Great American writer for young people. I recommend him. He was a great radical in the 1920s, and in the fullness of time came to a more vivid appreciation of this country. At the profound sense of connection through its past. Let me just read you from this essay. By the way, this passage, the title of the book was the first thing i wrote, which is sort of unusual. I had never done that before. Usually the last thing i wrote, but i thought this title epitomize what it wanted to achieve so i i taped it up to y computer monitor, land of , l and edit their infamy. The other thing i added was a desk, this required on the site, propped up by a piece of cardboard is longer, and this is every generation rewrites the past. In easy fence history is more or less of an ornamental arc, but in times of danger, we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today. We need to know what kind of firm ground other men along to generations before us have found to stand on. In spite of changing conditions of life, they were not very different from ourselves here that thoughts with the grandfathers of our thought. They manage to meet situations as difficult as those we have to face, to meet them sometimes lightheartedly and its a measure to make that helps prevail. We need to know how they did it. This is continued with those passes. This is the part i am especially interested in. In times of change in danger when theres a quick sense of fear undermanned recently, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across this story present and get us past that immediate dilution of the exceptional now that blocks rethinking your dad is what in times like ours when old institutions are caving in and being replaced by new institutions, not necessarily in the court with most mens preconceived hopes, political thought has to look backwards as well as forward. Thats quite appropriate, isnt it . To our moment. Note that passage i kind of marked out. Its arguing a sense of living connection to the past can be studying and reassuring a source of sustenance even in times of great upheaval. And that sense, that sense of connection with the past can free us from the illusion that we live in a time so different from all other times as to be completely without precedent from the illusion of the past has nothing whatsoever to teach us, seeing all of us who teach in humanities struggle against. We are all prone to think of this what about our present times, steady flow of dramatic and unsettling event and Technological Innovations rendered the past irrelevant. Young people i think are especially tempted to think this way because frankly they have less experience. That means that nothing but the present as a point of comparison. But those passes as an idiot dilution. We would say idiotic but he calls it an idiot dilution, recommends the council of the past is something necessary and not merely desirable. It should add to the weight of these observations to tell you the year in which he wrote these words, 1941. This was a truly frightening moment in the history of the world can history of the western world particularly. Hitler in control of the european continent. The very fate of european civilization seemed to hang by a thread. He couldve been forgiven for thinking at this time that the past in the midst of this unprecedented war, that the past have nothing to teach such a moment. But thats that what he said. Part of the point of looking backwards as he counsels us to do is that in doing so we not only recover a sense of where we came from, but we learn to free ourselves from our mental imprisonment in the present, this provincial conviction that we have that what we are seeing and experiencing and believing today represents the pinnacle of Human Knowledge and human possibility, a natural or inevitable state of human beings. When you learn to incorporate the past into our thinking we enrich our imaginations, even as we become far less susceptible to idiot delusions. We become better people and more appreciative citizens. So we need a different kind of textbook, one that does not condescend to the past but instead choose back to it, seeks to recover the roots of our great story and present the story in its fullness, not merely in its coarseness, brutality and failure although not neglecting those things either. But in its triumphs and grandeur and world historical exceptional importance. It needs us to dig in to get importance of history as a result of shared memories that make possible our cohesion as a people, make it possible for us to Work Together towards the achievement of common goals and common goods. It needs to teach us how to balance criticism with appreciation, an old word i like very much. Taking into account the perennial challenges of statesmanship as well as the condition role of circumstances and context, of the conduct of policy in the making of laws and politics. Above all it needs to understand historical knowledge as an essential element in the life of the citizen, a knowledge of institutions and rights but a sense of membership of those belonging and obligation. In addition the book is unusual to the extent it asks its Young Readers to reflect on the meaning of the past. It tries to show them how to think historically, how to understand the history is not just an inert account of indisputable and selfexplanatory details. Instead, histories reflective task the calls for the depth of our humanity. Does not tell us what to think about the past at almost everpresent us with a simple play. Paving white hats against black cats pick it means learning to appreciate complexity and nuance and context, the circumstances within which historical actors are constrained to act. It means asking questions and asking them again and again, and again. Asking fresh questions as the expense of life causes fresh questions that arise in our minds. Let me talk now about some of the books more specific distinctives. First of all, theres the fact that it is a book. Its a tangible, physical object rather than an intentional election of pixels on a flickering screen. Thanks to the publisher, wonderful efforts, they made into a very handsome book. I do take credit for selection of the cover art however, its a handsome book, one that i hope if people continue to have personal libraries in the future, that it will make its way into theirs. And the family collections. By taking a stand with the permanence of the traditional printed book, land of hope stance against the growing tendency of publishers and School Systems that rely on digital materials only and confines students experiences of reading to the evermore omnipresent screen. As you will see this as a matter of no small social significance. Digital text can be altered in the blinking of an eye to geore orwell was go to disk. The permanence of a printed book on the other hand, is an expression of the durability of the subject it addresses. Also land of hope was not written by a committee. Well, youre looking at the committee, with its parts tasted together like a hostage note meant to please different constituencies and Interest Groups and stakeholders and Political Action committees and all the other vocal interested parties. The book was written by me, all by myself, typing away in my attic without a gang of graduate students or Research Assistance assisting the process. The book reflects that fact. Readers will, i hope, here in its pages the human voice of an actual author and not a false invitation of the voice of god, and echo chamber synthetically added. And the writing has not been dumbed down although it has in some case of incentivize and i take pains to make it as likely and approachable as possible. Ill let you be the judge when i read some passages. Many of the books fema distinctions are hidden in its title because a image of the tc was the first thing i wrote about the book, and it does express some of the emphases that i knew i wanted to you too as i proceeded. First there is the word land. America is a land. Its not only an idea. True, it is in some respects the expression of an idea or of ideas about liberty, equality, selfrule and other such things and the universal standards and are set out in our declaration of independence which in turn initiated a great request for liberty, equality, et cetera in the nations of the world that we should not discount the historical influence of the worldwide influence of the declaration, even unto todays protest in hong kong. But americas also a very particular nation with a particular structure and a particular history which in turn means its particular triumphs and sufferings, sacrifices, and our memories of these things are important factors that draw and hold us together. They are the sacrifices and sufferings and victories, not of all humanity but of ourselves, but of us alone in some cases. Arlington National Cemetery is a place commanding our devotion, but only because of the nobility of the american idea, but because the remains of our brave countrymen, some of whom are our fathers and brothers and relatives, are interred there. Second, there is the third word of the title, hope, the concept of hope. And this is part of the books argument. On the outset, that the entire western hemisphere came to be inhabited by people who came from somewhere else. Most willingly with one great exception of that, people who came in bondage but most willingly. Restless and exploratory, unwilling to settle for the conditions in which they were born, drawn by the prospect of a new beginning. Freedom, the space to pursue their ambitions in ways that respected old worlds did not permit. Hope is a word, a very powerful word in america. Hope has both theological and secular, even material meaning as well as spiritual ones. All of these meetings have existed and still exists in abundance in america. And, in fact, nothing about america better defines its distinctive character than the ubiquity of hope, since that things as they are initially given to us in life cannot be the final word about them, that we can never ever settle for that. Few courses are more american than this, and its a spiritual quality above all else. An aspirational quality that cannot possibly be adequately accounted for in merely material terms. Of course hope and opportunity are not synonymous with success. Being the land of hope sometimes means being the land disappointment, and dashed hopes. This is unavoidable. A nation that professes such high ideals makes itself vulnerable to searing criticism when it falls short of them. Sometimes very fall short of them as often have done. We shouldnt be surprised by this. Just as we should not be surprised to discover that many of our heroes turn out to be deeply flawed human beings. All human beings are flawed, as are all human enterprises to believe otherwise is to be naive, and much of what has of her cynicism in our time is little more than naivete, indeed disguised as a culprit is too persistent and compelling a force to be defeated for long by such passing sentiment. And finally there is this thing also in the title of story. America has a story. Its a violent our young people be acquainted with that story. Stories are how