For the last two and a half centuries, the USA has been shaped by a remarkable sense of its own unique place in world history, yet consumed by never-ending battles over what this means. 250 years after the Declaration of Independence was signed, the United States appears to be at an inflexion point. In this lecture, Adam will discuss various ways of framing the history of the USA and consider how best to contextualise the present.

Adam Smith is the Edward Orsborn Professor of US Politics and Political History, and Director of the Rothermere American Institute at the University of Oxford. He is an expert in the Civil War, and his latest book (available from Oxford University Press) is Gettysburg, a study of how the Civil War battle that everyone’s heard of has played such a contentious and formative role in America’s understanding of itself. Adam is also the host of The Last Best Hope? podcast, which explores today’s America through the lens of the past.