The Nation That Never Was

Reconstructing America's Story

By: Kermit Roosevelt

Narrated by: Kermit Roosevelt III

Our idea of the Founders’ America and its values is not true. We are not the heirs of the Founders, but we can be the heirs of Reconstruction and its vision for equality.

There’s a common story we tell about America: that our fundamental values as a country were stated in the Declaration of Independence, fought for in the Revolution, and made law in the Constitution. But, with the country increasingly divided, this story isn’t working for us anymore—what’s more, it’s not even true.

As Kermit Roosevelt argues in this eye-opening reinterpretation of the American story, our fundamental values, particularly equality, are not part of the vision of the Founders. Instead, they were stated in Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and were the hope of Reconstruction, when it was possible to envision the emergence of the nation committed to liberty and equality.

We face a dilemma these days. We want to be honest about our history and the racism and oppression that Americans have both inflicted and endured. But we want to be proud of our country, too. In The Nation That Never Was, Roosevelt shows how we can do both those things by realizing we’re not the country we thought we were.

Reconstruction, Roosevelt argues, was not a fulfillment of the ideals of the Founding but rather a repudiation: we modern Americans are not the heirs of the Founders but of the people who overthrew and destroyed that political order. This alternate understanding of American identity opens the door to a new understanding of ourselves and our story, and ultimately to a better America.

America today is not the Founders’ America, but it can be Lincoln’s America. Roosevelt offers a powerful and inspirational rethinking of our country’s history and uncovers a shared past that we can be proud to claim and use as a foundation to work toward a country that fully embodies equality for all.

©2022 the University of Chicago (P)2022 Blackstone Publishing

SCOTUS

This is the best summary of our constitutional history that I have ever read. Thank you for educating me.

Must Read

The True story of who and what the USA has always been and how we got here!

Thought Provoking

The term “thought provoking” gets thrown around a lot. But this is perhaps the most thought-provoking book I’ve ever read. I’m not sure I totally agree with his argument that the Founding Era America should be viewed as a totally different nation. Why can’t we just call the Civil War and Reconstruction America the Second Founding? Anyway, this book has made me think harder than any book I’ve ever read and question long-held beliefs. If that’s not worth five stars, I’m not sure what is.

important

wonderful insights into the origins of our discontents with some good and important recommendations on how to move forward. But very repetitive. Bring your patience. it will be worth it.

A Necessary Book.

When America someday wakes up to this book's premise, and Americans are comfortable with this author's reality, America will finally be the America blacks deserve and the America whites pretend it already is. Bring on reparations, AKA, reconstruction -- take three.