America @250: The whole world played a role

Image by Spike Summers, Pixabay

This Week Those Books is chock-full of crucial context in just five minutes — from fiction and non-fiction — to the shouty, doomscroll news cycle. Click here for a quick read

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The Big Story:

America’s 250th birthday — its semiquincentennial, in Latin — is both joyous and fraught.

• Many around the world still thrill to the revolutionary ideals enshrined in the 1776 Declaration of Independence, which has inspired generations.
• But some Americans are in a pessimistic mood, according to a poll by Pew Research Centre.

This Week’s Books:

• A historian links the rest of the world into 1776.
• John Updike’s magnificent novel captures America’s angst.

Click to read on about the books and the back story