America, Christopher Hitchens once observed, is essentially an idea. The country was written into existence, and we’ve been fighting over the principles enshrined in its founding documents ever since. Our history resembles a ceaselessly unfurling text, the meaning of which will always be thrillingly and terrifyingly open to reinterpretation. The role of American artists is to hold a mirror up to the social contract and show us what appears in the glass.
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