News, Media & Publications

Scholars have long debated the meaning of the pursuit of happiness, yet have tended to define it narrowly, focusing on a single intellectual tradition, and on the use of the term within a single text, the Declaration of Independence. In this insightful volume, Prof. Carli N. Conklin considers the pursuit of happiness across a variety […]

In 1862, a British merchant was killed by samurai at Namamugi, a quiet village near Yokohama. One year later, a British fleet bombarded Kagoshima to extract reparations, reducing much of this south-western city to ash. This captivating re-telling locates the story firmly within the wider context of British imperial expansion in East Asia. “The Ghost […]

The idea that the three branches of the U.S. government are equal in power is taught in classrooms, proclaimed by politicians, and referenced in the media. But, as David Siemers shows, that idea is a myth, neither intended by the Founders nor true in practice. Siemers explains how adherence to this myth normalizes a politics […]

Kinder Institute Endowed Chair and Professor of History Jay Sexton hopped on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” on November 8 to discuss his new book A Nation Forged by Crisis: A New American History, published in October by Basic Books. You can listen to the full interview here.

In A Nation Forged by Crisis, Kinder Institute Chair in Constitutional Democracy Jay Sexton contends that our national narrative is not one of halting yet inevitable progress but of repeated disruptions brought about by shifts in the international system. Sexton shows that the American Revolution was a consequence of the increasing integration of the British […]

The first installment of a two-part conversation, Kinder Institute Director Justin Dyer sat down with Newsy Station Manager Cliff Judy to discuss how the American founders believed that civic education should be at the heart of the missions of the United States’ first public universities.