The Reading Room

Living author

Danielle Allen

1971-

The political theorist who reads the Declaration of Independence slowly, word by word, as a still-living argument rather than a museum piece. Our Declaration makes the case that equality and liberty are not opposed but joined, and that the founding text belongs to every reader willing to take it seriously. She writes democratic theory as an act of close reading and shared ownership.

In the library

  • Our Declaration

    A close reading of the Declaration of Independence as a still-living argument, taken slowly, word by word, the way a sacred text or a great poem...