Has America ever been this polarized: The meaning of the 2016 presidential election

Looking at the dramatic differences between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, this presentation will assess why and how Americans have become so polarized. Particular attention will be devoted to issues of race, immigration and economic inequality, and in particular how tensions over these issues lead to broader cultural and political divisions in the country.

Only in 1860 and 1968, the lecture will contend, has the United States ever been so divided.

William H. Chafe is the former president of the Organization of American Historians. He is the author of 13 books on the women's movement, the civil rights movement, and the intersection of the political and the personal. His most recent book is Hillary and Bill: The Clintons and the Politics of the Personal, which explores how the personal chemistry of the Clintons' relationship helps to explain the political careers of both Clintons. For forty-five years, Chafe has taught history at Duke University.

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