Writteninelegiacprose,Lepore’sgroundbreakinginvestigationplacestruthitself--adevotiontofacts,proof,andevidence--atthecenterofthenation’shistory.TheAmericanexperimentrestsonthreeideas--“thesetruths,“Jeffersoncalledthem--politicalequality,naturalrights,andthesovereigntyofthepeople.Anditrests,too,onafearlessdedicationtoinquiry,Leporeargues,becauseself-governmentdependsonit.Buthasthenation,anddemocracyitself,deliveredonthatpromise?TheseTruthstellsthisuniquelyAmericanstory,beginningin1492,askingwhetherthecourseofeventsovermorethanfivecenturieshasproventhenation’struths,orbeliedthem.Toanswerthatquestion,LeporetracestheintertwinedhistoriesofAmericanpolitics,law,journalism,andtechnology,fromthecolonialtownmeetingtothenineteenth-centurypartymachine,fromtalkradiototwenty-first-centuryInternetpolls,fromMagnaCartatothePatriotAct,fromtheprintingpresstoFacebookNews.Alongtheway,Lepore’ssovereignchronicleisfilledwitharrestingsketchesofbothwell-knownandlesser-knownAmericans,fromaparadeofpresidentsandarogues’galleryofpoliticalmischiefmakerstotheintrepidleadersofprotestmovements,includingFrederickDouglass,thefamedabolitionistorator;WilliamJenningsBryan,thethree-timepresidentialcandidateandultimatelytragicpopulist;PauliMurray,thevisionarycivilrightsstrategist;andPhyllisSchlafly,theuncreditedarchitectofmodernconservatism.Americansaredescendedfromslavesandslaveowners,fromconquerorsandtheconquered,fromimmigrantsandfrompeoplewhohavefoughttoendimmigration.“Anationbornincontradictionwillfightforeveroverthemeaningofitshistory,“Leporewrites,butengaginginthatstrugglebystudyingthepastispartoftheworkofcitizenship.“Thepastisaninheritance,agiftandaburden,“TheseTruthsobserves.“Itcan’tbeshirked.There’snothingforitbuttogettoknowit.“
