Our guest is Jared Yates Sexton, whose writing has included books and articles on politics, culture, and social justice, as well as works of fiction; he's an associate professor of creative writing at Georgia Southern University. He joins us to discuss his new book, which argues that the idea of "American exceptionalism" is not only false -- but it's been false since the country was founded. As was noted of "American Rule" by Booklist, in a starred review: "[The book] surveys the leaders and policies of American rule from the Founding Fathers to now, laying bare a collective, consistent, centuries-long gaslighting of the American people.... Sexton's writing is to be praised for its lack of equivocation. He calls the immoral immoral, the unethical unethical. The reading is uncomfortable yet necessary. Sexton's well-executed project of looking at American history with radical candor is meant to make us more patriotic, not less; only with clear eyes do we have a chance of fulfilling America's promise."
"American Rule: How a Nation Conquered the World but Failed Its People"
