Public DiscourseJul 24, 2026

The Bookshelf: When Words Are Deeds 

The nation’s semiquincentennial, which we marked on July 4, was the occasion for a number of new books about the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. I’m sure I’ll get around to reading some of those in future—if they’re good, they’re durable—but lately I’ve been revisiting some older works on the subject that still hold up. I’ll get to those in a moment, but first I want to consider what we have been celebrating this year.

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