What does it mean to be American? For 250 years, Americans have debated the nation’s ideals, contradictions, aspirations, and identity through speeches, essays, fiction, poetry, and political thought. The Center for the American Experience (CAE) invites you to join in that conversation.
As part of our inaugural programming, CAE launches What Is America?, a community reading series that brings together students and members of the broader public in a series of 90-minute facilitated conversations exploring short, primary source texts that have shaped American life and imagination across this nation’s history. Together, we’ll discuss the enduring questions these texts raise about democracy, freedom, equality, citizenship, pluralism, and the American experience.
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Each session is discussion-based and welcomes participants from all backgrounds. No prior knowledge is required—only curiosity, a love of reading, and a willingness to engage thoughtfully with others. Readings are intentionally brief and will be provided by CAE in advance. Participation is free.
How It Works
Participants may enroll in one or both reading groups. Each group meets every other Tuesday from 7-8:30 PM in person on The New School’s Greenwich Village campus for four sessions. The exact location will be provided to those accepted into each group. Light refreshments will be served.
Space is limited. We may not be able to accommodate everyone who registers, and participants will be notified of their status after registration closes.
Reading Group 1
Tuesdays from 7-8:30 PM
September 1
The Declaration of Independence (1776)
September 15
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance (1841)
September 29
Zitkala-Å a, American Indian Stories (selected chapters from Impressions of an Indian Childhood and School Days of an Indian Girl) (1921)
October 13
William Faulkner, The Bear (Sections 1–3) (1942)
Reading Group 2
Tuesdays from 7-8:30 PM
October 27
J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, What Is an American? (1782)
November 10
Abraham Lincoln, Lyceum Address (1838), Gettysburg Address (1863), and Second Inaugural Address (1865)
November 24
American Poetry in the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries: selections from Emily Dickinson, Emma Lazarus, Robert Frost, and Langston Hughes
December 8
Herbert Hoover, American Individualism (1922)
Join the Conversation
The story of America has never belonged to a single voice. It has always been shaped by debate, disagreement, imagination, and reinvention.
We hope you’ll join us as we read together, think together, and explore one of the most enduring questions of American life: What is America?
Presented by The Center for American Experience at The New School
Robert Mass is a member of the Board of Governors of NSSR, a recent PhD graduate in philosophy from NSSR, and a Visiting Research Scholar at the Gabelli Business School of Fordham University. Prior to joining the academy he had a career in investment banking, as a Partner of Goldman Sachs, and in law, as an Assistant District Attorney for New York County. In addition to his degree from NSSR, he has a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an A.B. in politics from University of California, Santa Cruz.
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
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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.
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Be sure to visit CAE's Events Page to see the full roster of our events and subscribe to our mailing list.
Visit The New School's Livestream and YouTube channels to watch select university events live and recorded.
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