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