A Nation at 250: Stories That Shape the American Experiment

In 2026, the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary. This event, called the semiquincentennial, marks the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

This milestone invites us to reflect on the nation’s founding ideals and the complex history that has unfolded over the years. UW Libraries is celebrating America’s 250th Anniversary with a book display and visual exhibit on Level 3 of Coe Library.

To complement the exhibit, we’ve put together a reading list featuring recommendations from University of Wyoming faculty, along with selections highlighted by PBS and the Osceola Library System. These works explore the founding era, the growth and limits of democracy, struggles for civil rights, cultural identity, and civic engagement. As the nation marks its 250th anniversary, these materials encourage meaningful engagement with both the promises and the contradictions of the American story.

The anniversary is also being commemorated across campus through lectures, public conversations, and special events. On Thursday, March 26, historian and award-winning podcaster Jim Ambuske will speak in Coe Library Rm. 506  at 8:30 a.m. about communicating the history of the American Revolution, followed by a presentation and extended trailer screening from the filmmaker behind the new documentary West of the Revolution. The following day, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson will present Declaring Independence and Why 1776 Matters in the A&S Auditorium at 4 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

Explore the full schedule of America 250 events at UW

Faculty Picks: Physical Materials

• The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America — Colin G. Colloway
• Scars of Independence: America's Violent Birth — Holger Hoock
• The Boston Massacre: A Family History — Serena R. Zabin
• Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World — Maya Jasanoff
• Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge — Erica Armstrong Dunbar
• Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82 — Elizabeth A. Fenn

Faculty Picks: Online Resources

• Nationalized Politics: Evaluating Electoral Politics Across Time — Jamie L. Carson, Joel Sievert, and Ryan D. Williamson
• Liberty is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution — Woody Holton
• Religion and the American Revolution — Katherine Carté
• Captives and Voyager: Black Migrants Across the Eighteenth-Century British Atlantic World — Alexander X. Byrd
• Religious Liberty, Christian Nationalism, and the American Revolution — Peter W. Walker

Faculty Picks: Podcasts

• Worlds Turned Upside Down — Jim Ambuske
• Intertwined: The Enslaved Community of George Washington's Mount Vernon — Jeanette Patrick and Jim Ambuske

Expanded Reading: National & Public Library Recommendations in our Collections

• The American Spirit: Who We Are and What We Stand For — David G. McCullough
• Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation — Cokie Roberts
• These Truths: A History of the United States — Jill Lepore
• 1776 — David McCullough
• Independence — John Ferling
• Our Declaration — Danielle Allen
• Benjamin Franklin: An American Life — Walter Issacson
• You Never Forget Your First — Alexis Coe
• The First Conspiracy — Brad Meltzer
• Ladies of Liberty — Cokie Roberts
• The Impeachers — Brenda Wineapple 
• The Woman's Hour — Elaine Weiss
• How Democracies Die — Steven Levitsky
• One Person, No Vote — Carol Anderson
• The Source of Self-Regard — Toni Morrison
• My Dear Hamilton — Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
• Americanized: Rebel Without a Greencard — Sara Saedi
• Friends for Freedom — Suzanne Slade
• Sonadores — Yuyi Morales
• Say Something! — Peter Reynolds
• Lillian's Right to Vote: A Celebration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — Jonah Winter

Expanded Reading: Online Resources

• African Founders — David Hackett Fisher 
• America's First Daughter — Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie 
• The Hamilton Affair — Elizabeth Cobbs 
• Rebellion 1776 — Laurie Halse Anderson
• Poor Richard's Women — Nancy Rubin Stuart 
• Liberty is Sweet — Woody Holton 
• Watch Us Rise — Renee Watson
• Sofia Valdez, Future Prez — Andrea Beaty
• The Voting Booth — Brandy Colbert
• How to Read the Constitution and Why — Kim Wehle
• We Are Not Yet Equal Understanding Our Racial Divide — Carol Anderson
• Vote! Women's Fight for Access to the Ballot Box — Coral Celeste Frazer
• E is for Everyone! — Elissa Grodin