Scholar Eddie Glaude Jr. reflects on America at 250

June 15, 2026

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5 min read

Eddie Glaude Jr. opens his new book with a sentence he was afraid to write: “I do not love America. I never have. Especially now.” On stage at the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, he told Tanya Mosley that the line came to him during a late revision, and he got up and walked around his study, worried about what it would mean to leave it there. But he decided he had to be truthful. The book, America, USA: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries, is not a departure from his earlier work so much as a reckoning with what that earlier work assumed. Glaude’s previous book, Begin Again, used James Baldwin to beat back despair. This one does not. “I’m rageful,” he said. “There are moments when I’m battling depression. Because the country has done this again.”

The comma, not the hyphen

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What you'll learn

1 (00:15) **Introduction: Eddie Glaude Jr. and the Thesis of "America, USA"** - Tanya Mosley introduces Princeton professor Eddie Glaude Jr. and frames his new book as a departure from his previous hope, arguing that the nation's big birthdays (1876, 1926, 1976, 2026) follow a ritual of self-congratulation and historical erasure.
2 (04:31) **Why "I Do Not Love America" Became the Starting Point** - Glaude describes the moment this sentence came to him during revision, and his fear of what it would mean to leave it on the page.
3 (08:02) **The Core Mechanism: The Nation's Divided Soul and Double Consciousness** - Glaude introduces the central framework: America imagines itself as both a "beacon of freedom" and a "white Republic," a contradiction that creates a "madness" visible at every milestone anniversary.
4 (10:05) **The Meaning of the Title: The Comma as a Break** - Glaude explains that the comma in "America, USA" signals a break, not a hyphenated connection, reflecting the divided soul of the country.
5 (11:42) **Patriotism as a "Rebel Yell" and the Counter-Calendar of Freedom** - Glaude expresses deep skepticism of patriotic rhetoric, describing it as often a "rebel yell" from those who want to put him in his place.
6 (14:29) **The 1876 Centennial: Racial Justice as Philanthropy** - Glaude introduces the mechanism by which the nation finesses its contradiction: treating freedom as a gift white people possess to give and take away.
7 (22:59) **The Cycle of Sentimentality and Rage** - Glaude diagnoses the 2020 "racial reckoning" as a lie or a fleeting sentiment, using Baldwin's concept of sentimentality to explain how white allies' emotions quickly turn to rage when justice is still demanded.

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Guests on this episode

Tanya Mosley

Show Notes

Glaude's book, 'America, U.S.A.,' looks at the country through the lens of its previous anniversaries and centennials. Today, as in the past, he tells Tonya Mosley, "the divided soul of the nation is in full view." As the 250th anniversary approaches, he says it's time for the U.S. to acknowledge the ways it has failed to deliver on its founding principles. "America has to grow up. It can no longer hide in its adolescence," he says.
Also, Maureen Corrigan recommends three books to help you jump into summer reading.

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