These Truths

A History of the United States

21 May 2026

Territory Rights — Worldwide.

Jill Lepore (Author)

Description

In the most ambitious one-volume American history in decades, Jill Lepore offers a magisterial account of the origins and rise of a divided nation, an urgently needed reckoning with the beauty and tragedy of American history

Americans are descended from slaves and slave owners, from conquerors and the conquered, from immigrants and from people who have fought to end immigration. "A nation born in contradiction will fight forever over the meaning of its history," Lepore writes. “Clear in purpose and elegant in design" (TLS), These Truths observes, "The past is an inheritance, a gift and a burden.” "It can’t be shirked. There’s nothing for it but to get to know it.

Reviews

"This vivid history brings alive the contradictions and hypocrisies of the land of the free... excellent book" — David Aaronovitch, The Times

"... Jill Lepore’s These Truths may restore faith in American ideals." — The Guardian

"…clear-eyed history of the country." — The Economist

"…one of those rare history books that can be read with pleasure for its sheer narrative energy." — Simon Winchester, New Statesman

"I’m ending the year back in the real world though, reading the most fabulously written history of the USA called These Truths by Jill Lepore." — Armando Lannucci, '2018's Best Books', The Big Issue

"This is a tale told with the verve of a great teacher, the modulated literary style of a high-class novelist and the generous, careful eye of a historian who treats her sources as precious artefacts not as subjects for plunder." — History Today

"The most honest and unflinching account of the American story I’ve ever read" — Bill Gates’ '5 Favorite Books Of 2019', Forbes

"A The New York Times Bestseller"

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  • The Deadline: Essays

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    "Jill Lepore is unquestionably one of America’s best historians; it’s fair to say she’s one of its best writers too." —Jonathan Russell Clark, Los Angeles Times

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    Hardback, 2023

    "Jill Lepore is unquestionably one of America’s best historians; it’s fair to say she’s one of its best writers too." —Jonathan Russell Clark, Los Angeles Times

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  • 1964: Eyes of the Storm

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  • If Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future

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    Paperback, 2021

    From the best-selling author of These Truths, an “exhilarating” (New York Times Book Review) account of the Cold War origins of our data-mad era.

Paperback

9781324130765

156 x 235 mm • 960 pages

£18.99

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