In this, our 250th year of independence, much will be written and spoken about our promise as a nation. But as historian Richard North Patterson has written: “Today’s America is 1968 on steroids.” The toxic polarization we experience today is not a random or accidental phenomenon. Today’s polarization—however unprecedented it feels—fits within a longer historical pattern. The surface issues change, but the underlying structures recur with remarkable consistency. In this class we will explore what I call the “Architecture of Conflict” and how it applies with remarkable consistency to different periods of upheaval and division in our past, from the days of the Founders through the Sixties and today. We will seek lessons from the past that might help transform today’s divisions into sources of renewal. Join this class to for an historical perspective on and to more fully understand today’s domestic turmoil. Some lecture each class; much vigorous discussion is the format.