Declaration of Independence: Defense of Equality

"Our Declaration" has received high praise from esteemed publications such as the New York Review of Books, where it was described as a "tour de force" and a unique contribution to the literature on the Declaration. It has been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Zócalo Book Prize, the Society of American Historians’ Francis Parkman Prize, and the Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize (Nonfiction). Furthermore, it was a finalist for the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Hurston Wright Legacy Award, the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction, and the Phi Beta Kappa Society’s Ralph Waldo Emerson Award.

Featured as a New York Times Book Review Editors Choice Selection and on the front page of the New York Times, "Our Declaration" is already considered a groundbreaking work that offers a fresh interpretation of American democracy through the lens of its founding text. The author, a renowned political philosopher specializing in justice and citizenship, combines a personal account of teaching the Declaration with a vivid depiction of the colonial world between 1774 and 1777.

In "Our Declaration," she argues that the Declaration is not just about individual liberty, but also about political equality, challenging traditional beliefs about its meaning and significance. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout, with 35 illustrations enhancing the reader’s understanding of the text. As David M. Kennedy puts it, "Our Declaration" is an “uncommonly elegant, incisive, and often poetic primer on America’s cardinal text."

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