What will it take for the American people to enact a more democratic version of themselves? How to better educate democratic minds and democratic hearts? In response to these crucial predicaments, this innovative book proposes that instead of ignoring or repressing the conflicted nature of American identity, these conflicts should be recognized as sites of pedagogical opportunity.

Kerry Burch revives eight fundamental pieces of political public rhetoric into living artifacts, into provocative instruments of democratic pedagogy. From "The Pursuit of...