Hurst Lecture Series: What Every American Should Know

In collaboration with the Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program and Aspen Words.

Featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “The Sympathizer” Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of “The Moor’s Account” Laila Lalami and Pulitzer Prize-nominated author of “There There” Tommy Orange, in conversation with Aspen Institute Citizenship and American Identity Program Executive Director and Citizen University Founder Eric Liu. In 1987, E.D. Hirsch sparked a national debate with his book “Cultural Literacy,” claiming that there is a foundation of common knowledge every American should know — and codifying it in a list of 5,000 facts and cultural references. Hirsch’s list was attacked, celebrated, and much discussed. Today, amidst giant demographic and technological shifts, we need such common knowledge more than ever, and it needs to be radically more diverse and inclusive. What should today’s Americans know to be civically and culturally literate?

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