The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, on America’s 250th anniversary and the American idea today. Plus: what we can learn from American history on this Fourth of July and City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism by Abram Van Engen.

The Atlantic’s editor in chief, Jeffrey Goldberg, on America’s 250th anniversary and the American idea today. Plus: what we can learn from American history on this Fourth of July…

This proud and boisterous occasion is undeniably tinged with both division and doubt

An unfinished ode from 1876 offers a lesson for America’s 250th.

America’s 250th birthday should be more than a commemoration. It should be an opportunity for renewal of our founding principles.