Jill Lepore

Jill Lepore is an American historian, essayist and author who has won numerous awards for her work. She is currently the Harvard University David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History and a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine. Lepore is the author of 10 books, including the critically-acclaimed 2019 bestseller These Truths: A History of the United States.

Lepore was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1966. She grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she attended Conestoga High School. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in American Studies from Tufts University in 1988 and her PhD in American Studies from Yale University in 1995.

Lepore is best known for her works of nonfiction. She has written numerous articles and essays for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The London Review of Books, and The Wall Street Journal. Her writing focuses on the historical interpretation of the United States and its culture, with an emphasis on its evolution since the 19th century.

Lepore’s first major work of nonfiction was The Name of War (1998), a Pulitzer Prize finalist that examines the 1700 French and Indian War from multiple perspectives. Additionally, in 2005 she published New York Burning, a National Book Award finalist on the aftermath of a 1741 slave rebellion in New York City.

Lepore is also the author of five books about the United States, including The Story of America (2012), a collection of short stories about the nation’s history. She has also written two biographies: The Mansion of Happiness (2012), a history of marriage and Jonathan Edwards (2017), an examination of the life and legacy of the influential 18th-century Christian theologian. In 2019, she wrote a comprehensive history of the United States titled These Truths: A History of the United States. This book traces American history from the era of colonization to the present day and was a bestseller nominated for the National Book Award.

Lepore has earned numerous honors for her work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a New York Public Library Cullman Fellowship, and a Radcliffe Institute Fellowship. In 2017, she was selected as a Harvard University Fellow and for the same year, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Lepore’s essays, books and articles on American history are both provocative and thought-provoking. She has a particular focus on America’s past, present and future and offers an insightful glimpse into the country’s history and identity. Her works serve to educate and inform those looking to understand the making of the United States.