InThe Story of America, Harvard historian andNew Yorkerstaff writer Jill Lepore investigates American origin stories-from John Smith's account of the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to Barack Obama's 2009 inaugural address-to show how American democracy is bound up with the history of print. Over the centuries, Americans have read and written their way into a political culture of ink and type. Part civics primer, part cultural history, The Story of Americaexcavates the origins of everything from the paper ballot and the Constitution to the I. O.U. and the dictionary. Along the way it presents fresh readings of Benjamin Franklin'sWay to Wealth, Thomas Paine'sCommon Sense, The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, as well as histories of lesser-known genres, including biographies of presidents, novels of immigrants, and accounts of the Depression. From past to present, Lepore argues, Americans have wrestled with the idea of democracy by telling stories. In this thoughtful and provocative book, Lepore offers at once a history of origin stories and a meditation on storytelling itself. | The Story of America by Jill Lepore, Paperback | Indigo Chapters