But obviously, we should be held accountable for those things. And so I really appreciated this epigraph setting that tone that in this book she really wants to address those things that we frequently gloss over and don’t really want to be held accountable for. But we like to gloss over some of the more unsavory parts of American history and the wrongs that we have done to others. We’re not required to fly American flags, but a lot of us do voluntarily, very like pro-American. And I think that a lot of times Americans, at least growing up American, we’re all very patriotic. And he said, “We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” And it really sets the tone for the book because this is written at post-2016.

It’s a quote from Abraham Lincoln in 1862. I think the epigraph explains it really well. Kendra: So one of the themes about this particular history book. Learning where they came from was really interesting because I never really had that full picture before because I think high school American history is pretty watered down, for the most part. Kendra: I didn’t realize a lot of how some of our weird laws came in to be. So I feel like for me, that was a really good inroad to connecting with this. And I really enjoyed that legal angle, and I think that continued through a lot of the substantive topics that she talked about throughout American history. a lot of the formative documents and, you know, how the Constitution came together and the key players. So I feel like I had a good sort of generalist background, but I really enjoyed the legal context that she gave. Jaclyn: Well, I have studied US history at university. Kendra: So as someone who isn’t from the United States, how did you find learning about the overall history of America and what that looked like and how our weird laws came into being?

Jaclyn: Yeah, it’s a very, very thorough and broad history as well.

The warmth of a thousand suns