The Center for the American Experience invites you to join Jill Lepore, award-winning American historian, New Yorker staff writer, and professor of law and American history at Harvard University, for a conversation with CAE faculty co-director Natalia Mehlman Petrzela on the American experience and her new book, The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State. Lepore’s work has long explored how Americans understand democracy, constitutionalism, technology, and the institutions that shape public life, and this event will situate her latest book within that broader intellectual project. The discussion will range across the themes that define her scholarship and public writing, from the promises and dangers of technological governance to the evolving meanings of liberty, equality, and civic responsibility in the United States.
The Rise and Fall of the Artificial State examines how modern states have increasingly relied on bureaucratic systems, algorithms, and engineered institutions to manage society, raising urgent questions about who controls these artificial structures and what they mean for democratic accountability. Drawing on her signature blend of historical depth and clear, accessible argument, Lepore traces the rise of these engineered systems and warns of their fragility when they outpace the human capacities they are meant to serve.
The evening will open with brief introductory remarks by Zed Adams, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Vice President of Technology, and Julia Sonnevend, Associate Professor of Sociology and Communications and co-director of the CAE.
Presented by the Center for the American Experience at The New SchoolÂ
Jill Lepore is a prominent American historian, essayist, and professor at Harvard University whose writing connects history, politics, law, and culture. She is also a long-time staff writer for The New Yorker, where she has built a reputation for clear, deeply researched work on American institutions and ideas.
She is especially known for books like These Truths: A History of the United States, which offers a sweeping interpretation of U.S. history, and The Deadline, a collection that reflects her wide-ranging interests as a public intellectual. Her scholarship often examines democracy, constitutionalism, technological change, and the stories Americans tell about themselves.
Lepore’s work is valued for being both rigorous and accessible, making her influential in academic and public discussions alike.
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is Professor of History at The New School and a historian of contemporary American politics and culture. She is the author of Classroom Wars and Fit Nation, and her work bridges scholarship, public writing, and media commentary. She also serves as faculty co-director of the Center for the American Experience and has led major public-history projects, including the NYC DOE’s Jewish American Hidden Voices curriculum.
The Center for the American Experience at The New School is a faculty-led initiative that brings together design, the performing arts, the social sciences, and the humanities to examine the complex past, present, and future of the United States and its place in the world and in our lives. CAE is dedicated to interdisciplinary scholarship, creative practice, innovative pedagogy, and bold civic engagement.Â
Guided by the complementary perspectives of a historian and a media sociologist, CAE explores the ideas, histories, myths, cultures, and debates that have shaped American life. At a moment defined by political polarization, challenges to democracy, and profound changes in how information is created, shared, and understood—from social media to artificial intelligence—the Center examines the forces shaping American culture, public life, and democracy. By connecting perspectives across disciplines and communities on campus and beyond, the Center embraces the multiplicity of the American experience.Â
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Building on The New School's longstanding commitment to cultural pluralism—a theory articulated by philosopher Horace Kallen, one of the university's earliest faculty members—CAE brings diverse perspectives into conversation not to sharpen divisions, but to cultivate understanding, discover common ground, and imagine new possibilities.Â
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Through public programs, exhibitions, performances, and collaborative research, CAE convenes scholars, artists, students, and the broader public to explore the American experience and its enduring questions together.
Be sure to visit CAE's Events Page to see the full roster of our events and subscribe to our mailing list.
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