Defining a Nation: Our America and the Sources of its Strength Book

Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam brings together fellow historians, commentators, and writers in a celebration of America that combines stunning imagery with unsurpassed prose.

How to define America? In this unique compilation, David Halberstam enlists leading historians and writers-including Walter Cronkite, Louis Auchincloss, John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, Mary Gordon, Stan Katz, David Kennedy, Molly O'Neill, Arthur Schlessinger, and Anna Quindlen-in a quest to understand the American experience in all of its complexity.

In each chapter, Halberstam defines key issues that have shaped the American character: the sheer physical size of the country; the rise of the meritocracy; the legendary events; leaders, rogues, and icons that have left their mark on American mythology; and the cultural contributions that are uniquely American. Halberstam's introductions are followed by richly varied essays that cover subjects ranging from Manifest Destiny to John Wayne movies, from FDR's New Deal to Margaret Sanger and the birth control pill, from Paul Revere's ride to the Joseph McCarthy hearings.

These inspiring and enlightening essays are accompanied by more than 300 exquisite photographs and illustrations. The result is a fascinating book that provides long sought-after and often surprising answers to the questions of how today's America emerged, and where the country is headed.