Episode
#1706 Books about the Declaration of Independence
- Podcast
- Listening to America
- Published
- Jun 1, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 4111
- Processing state
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Summary
Clay and his frequent guest, the redoubtable Lindsay Chervinsky, discuss books written about Jefferson's declaration, arguably the most important document in the history of liberty. Among the titles discussed are Walter Isaacson's recent The Greatest Sentence Ever Written, which celebrates the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, to Garry Wills' award-winning 1978 Inventing America, which locates the inspiration in the Scottish Enlightenment, and Pauline Meier's 1997 American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, which examines local and regional declarations that contributed to Jefferson's great national document. Could any of the other Founding Fathers have written so magnificent a declaration? What role did Jefferson's famous "felicity for expression" play in the historical fame of America's mission statement?