The Conversation: Sarah Churchwell

(Tuesday 2nd June 2026)

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The American Dream at 250

As we mark the 250^th anniversary of American Independence, the writer and academic Sarah Churchwell asks: How’s it playing out? Is this what the Founding Fathers would have wanted? And how does America tell its story from Birth of a Nation to the Great Gatsby, and from Hamilton to Trump?

Sarah Churchwell is the author of Behold America: A History of America First and the American Dream, The Wrath To Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells and Careless People: Murder Mayhem and the Invention of The Great Gatsby. She hosts the Goalhanger podcast Journey Through Time with David Olusoga.

Chaired by Peter Florence.

The interview lasts for an hour followed by a 30-minute public Q&A, then a book-signing and informal conversation.