Jill Lepore: We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution

Harvard historian, Jill Lepore, in conversation with poet and UNC professor, Gabrielle Calvocoressi.
*Ticket purchase required. See event guidelines below.

ABOUT THE BOOK: The U.S. Constitution is among the oldest constitutions in the world—and one of the most difficult to amend. At what cost? In this landmark, lavishly illustrated book, Harvard professor of history and law Jill Lepore argues that the philosophy of amendment is foundational to American constitutionalism. Challenging both originalism and the Supreme Court’s monopoly on constitutional interpretation, Lepore argues that the framers never intended for the Constitution to be kept, like a butterfly, under glass, but instead expected that future generations would be forever tinkering with it, improving the machinery of government. In an account as radical as Charles Beard’s An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, Lepore offers a sweeping, lyrical, and democratic constitutional history, telling the stories of generations of Americans who have attempted everything from abolishing the Electoral College to guaranteeing environmental rights, hoping to mend America by amending its constitution. Pre-order your copy from Main Street Books here.

JILL LEPORE (she/her) is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and professor of law at Harvard Law School. She is also a staff writer at The New Yorker. Her many books include the international bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

GABRIELLE CALVOCORESSI (they/them) is an award-winning poet and author ofThe Last Time I Saw Amelia Earhart, Apocalyptic Swing (a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize) and Rocket Fantastic, winner of the 2018 Audre Lorde Poetry Prize. Calvocoressi is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including a Stegner Fellowship and Jones Lectureship from Stanford University, a Rona Jaffe Woman Writer’s Award, a Lannan Foundation residency in Marfa, TX, the Bernard F. Conners Prize from The Paris Review, and a residency from the Civitella di Ranieri Foundation, among others. Their poems have been published in numerous magazines and journals including the New York Times, POETRY, Boston Review, and Kenyon Review, and The New Yorker. Calvocoressi teaches at UNC Chapel Hill and lives in Old East Durham, NC, where joy, compassion, and social justice are at the center of their personal and poetic practice. Their new collection of poetry, The New Economy, will be released from Copper Canyon in the autumn of 2025.

Event Guidelines:

• This event will take place in person at Town Hall Auditorium. Address: 251 South St, Davidson, NC.
• Doors open at 6:30 PM
• This event requires a ticket purchase to attend.
• Ticket + gift card holders will be issued a $10 gift card upon check-in at the event which can be redeemed toward purchase of the book at the event (or anytime at Main Street Books).
• A book signing will follow the author talk.
• Books will be available for purchase at the event, before and after the program.

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