The John Adams Institute is Amsterdam's home for independent American thought. John Adams himself said, "Let us tenderly and kindly cherish... the means of knowledge. Let us dare to read, think, speak, and write." For four decades, we have amassed a unique archive of great thinkers, speakers and writers, from Toni Morrison to Timothy Snyder, and from Jane Fonda to Jill Lepore. It has been our pleasure to share this treasure trove of thought and word with you.

In this exclusive miniseries, we're sitting down with a few prominent voices from both sides of the Atlantic to take stock of the United States, two hundred and fifty years into its experiment in self-governance. Across these conversations, you'll hear from Ada Limón, former U.S. Poet Laureate, on art, identity, and the burden of speaking for a country; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the House, on the founding promise of American democracy and the gap between promise and practice; and Edward Luce of the Financial Times, on America as a creedal nation—the fragile idea holding it together at home, and what its fracturing means for its place in the world.

We believe John Adams would have wanted it that way—in fact, he explained as much in a letter to his wife, Abigail, on 3 July 1776:

"I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival."

And so, from Amsterdam, it's Bright Minds; Out of Many, One?—the podcast from the John Adams Institute.

If you're a friend of free thinking and the communities that support it, please become a member. Our independence is something we cherish, and it comes with a cost. The John Adams Institute is an independent foundation without structural subsidy, and there's always room at our table for more.

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