Astead Herndon

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I'm Astead Herndon, and this is America Actually.

So we are 250 years into this American experiment, and I'd say it's going okay.

I'd give us like a C plus.

The Declaration of Independence, the women's rights movement, the invention of basketball or the iPhone, all good.

Slavery, colonialism, income inequality, unequivocally bad.

But what's gonna determine the next 250 years of America?

And how do we write a new social contract that can give us the democracy we deserve?

That's this week on America Actually.

Let's dig in.

Joining me now is Heather Cox Richardson.

She's a historian and professor at Boston College, but you probably know her from her very popular sub stack, Letters from an American, and her YouTube channel.

I am excited that Heather is joining us because she's going to help us think about not only the future, but how the past connects to it.