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3316. Analysis. In her book This America, historian Jill Lepore discusses American values and their relationship to the issues facing the nation today:A nation founded on the idea that all men are created equal and endowed with inalienable rights and offering asylum to anyone suffering from persecution is a beacon to the world. This is America at its best: a nation that welcomes dissent, protects free speech, nurtures invention, and makes possible almost unbelievable growth and prosperity. But a nation founded on ideals, universal truths, also opens itself to charges of hypocrisy at every turn. Those charges do not lie outside the plot of the story of America, or underneath it. They are its plot, the history on which any twenty-first century case for the American nation has to rest, a history of struggle and agony and courage and promise. Write an essay in which you analyze how at least one of the texts in this chapter illustrates this vision of American identity.7. Argument. In Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow, philosopher Yuval Noah Harari wrote:In the past, censorship worked by blocking the flow of information. In the twenty-first century, censorship works by flooding people with irrelevant information. . . . In ancient times having power meant having access to data. Today having power means knowing what to ignore. To what extent do you agree or disagree with his assertion? What implications does your position have for how you expect to navigate your life as the twenty-first century continues to unfold?8. Research. Choose a twenty-first century movement and/or protest to research. Explore the causes that led to the formation of the movement, its successes, and its failures. Then, take a position on what immediate and long-term steps the movement should take to achieve its goals. Following are some suggestions to direct your research:%u2022 Black Lives Matter%u2022 Antiwar protests from 2001 to the present%u2022 Tea Party movement%u2022 Occupy Wall Street%u2022 #MeToo movement%u2022 March for Our Lives%u2022 People%u2019s Climate March9. Analysis. Consider the presidential elections of the twenty-first century. Choose one and analyze the election. Use at least three of the texts in this chapter to explain and comment on the result of that particular election.10. Research. The COVID-19 pandemic fundamentally altered life in the United States and much of the world, with schools and businesses closed and people confined to their homes. Research the more permanent changes that occurred as a result. Consider changes in the workplace, the climate, education, the economy, and any other area you find interesting. How does your research further inform or even alter your reading of the texts in this chapter?5 Suggestions for WritingCopyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.