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So you’re not playing Monday morning quarterback, but you’re rerunning what Stephen Jay Gould calls the tape of evolution. But if you go to the past, you can study the choices that our society has made at different moments and how those choices-which might have made sense in their own time-can be rethought today. If you don’t understand the past of our democracy, you think we’re stuck with all the problems we have today because they seem unavoidable. We study the past, not because the past repeats itself-it doesn’t-but because the past opens up other opportunities for thinking about the present.

And, what we as historians do most of all, to provide people with an origin, a deeper understanding for what they confront today, which helps people to think about then alternatives for moving forward. It’s our job to help people understand the complexity and confusion in their world, to provide narratives. That’s really the world for policymakers to try to come up with solutions. It’s not necessarily a great time for democracy, but it’s a great time to be teaching American democracy because I think one of the things we do well as scholars is to help people understand and make sense of the confusion in their world. It’s really a pleasure to be here with so many fellow educators, CFR members, and various others-even some former students of mine, I think.Īnd this is a great time to be teaching American democracy. I thought we could begin by just diving right in, for you to tell us about what you think about when you’re teaching the history of American democracy, and what it means to you. So, Jeremi, thanks very much for being with us.

And his latest book is entitled Civil War by Other Means: America’s Long and Unfinished Fight for Democracy, which was published by PublicAffairs. He writes for major publications and is the author and editor of eleven books on contemporary politics and foreign policy.

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He has received several accolades for his research in teaching, including the Pro Bene Meritis Award for Contributions to the Liberal Arts and the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award from the University of Texas at Austin. Suri is the Mack Brown distinguished chair for leadership in global affairs and professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin. We’re delighted to have Jeremi Suri with us to discuss teaching the history of American democracy. As always, CFR takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.

Today’s discussion is on the record, and the video and transcript will be available on our website, CFR.org/Academic, if you would like to share it with your colleagues. I’m Irina Faskianos, vice president of the National Program and Outreach here at CFR. Welcome to CFR’s Higher Education Webinar.

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Jeremi Suri, the Mack Brown distinguished chair for leadership in global affairs and professor of public affairs and history at the University of Texas at Austin, leads the conversation on how to teach the history of American democracy.įASKIANOS: Thank you.