Inspired by America’s past, facing future challenges

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As we celebrate America’s birth, we are reminded that this is a nation built on ideas, but powered by individuals – motivated by the pursuit of happiness, drawing on deep wells of courage, hard work, and optimism – who overcame challenges to achieve superhuman feats. We here in Massachusetts hold a special place in this country’s origin story – it was here where patriots first met and engaged in public debate. They challenged the status quo and helped form and inform the new hopeful American identity then taking shape.

Pioneer Institute embraces that spirit every day, stimulating public discourse and driving rational civic engagement, always looking to make our Commonwealth an exemplar to other states and a place where individuals can continue to build and thrive.

Help us continue this tradition.

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Professor Jay Parini on Thirteen Books That Changed America

This week on The Learning Curve, Jay Parini, Professor of English and Creative Writing at Middlebury College, discusses his book Promised Land: Thirteen Books That Changed America, detailing how William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, The Federalist Papers, and the works of Thoreau, Stowe, Twain, Du Bois, and others have shaped the American mind, character, and identity.

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