Understand

BBC Radio 4
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NEW in Understand: How Reading Made Us Did learning to read rewire our brains and change the way we live today? And with reading on the decline, what does this mean for our ability to think? With writer James Marriott. Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.

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  1. An American Journey: 1. The Pursuit of Happiness

    EPISODE 1

    An American Journey: 1. The Pursuit of Happiness

    James Naughtie examines the ideas tying America's founding to the modern United States. In this major new series marking America's 250th anniversary, James travels through time and across the landscape to discover how the Declaration of Independence embedded the idea of a country founded on what its authors described as 'self-evident' truths – that everyone’s inalienable rights included ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’ In this first episode James begins with the 'pursuit of happiness' – the American search for opportunity. He begins on the site of the original gold rush in northern California, before journeying to farms and factories; small towns and big cities across the American Midwest. As he does, he reveals how from Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, to President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, Americans have always seen the connection between economic and democratic freedom - the ability to choose their own fates, and the fate of the country. Producer: Giles Edwards.

    43 min
  2. An American Journey: 2. A More Perfect Union

    EPISODE 2

    An American Journey: 2. A More Perfect Union

    James Naughtie continues his look at the ideas tying America's founding to the modern United States, as he looks at what it means to be an American. In Chicago, he joins the Columbus Day parade - an exuberant celebration of Italian-American identity - and hears about the Great Migration of African Americans from the South to northern cities like Chicago. In Wisconsin, he visits the birthplace of the Republican Party, and in Ohio the Governor shows him the spot where Abraham Lincoln heard he had been formally confirmed as President-Elect. James considers how the social movements of the 1960s moved the centre of gravity of American politics from economic to social issues, with all that meant for political polarisation. Producer: Giles Edwards

    42 min
  3. An American Journey: 3. Establishing Justice

    EPISODE 3

    An American Journey: 3. Establishing Justice

    James Naughtie continues his look at the ideas tying America's founding to the modern United States, asking how 'justice' has been understood by different generations of Americans. In this third episode, James travels to Alabama in the American South, to understand how the Civil Rights movement sought to connect American reality with the promises in its founding documents. He hears from people in Texas on both sides of the debate about abortion, revealing how a movement built to oppose abortion rights brought millions of Christians into politics and dramatically shifted the politics of America's highest court. And in Midwestern Wisconsin, he hears how political division has come to the administration of justice itself. Producer: Giles Edwards

    42 min
  4. An American Journey: 4. Life and Liberty

    EPISODE 4

    An American Journey: 4. Life and Liberty

    As James Naughtie concludes his series about the ideas tying America's birth 250 years ago to the United States today, he examines freedom, asking whose freedom, and what kind? He begins in Gettysburg, attending a re-enactment on the battlefield made famous by an address from President Abraham Lincoln in which he asked whether the United States "could long endure". That question is being asked again now, as Americans experience profound disagreements over many of the ideas in this series - economic opportunity, justice, freedom; even what it means to be an American. As he hears, American history itself has become a battlefield. And so speaking to historians with different perspectives, and senior political leaders from both parties, James assesses how dangerous this moment is for United States. Producer: Giles Edwards

    42 min
  5. How Reading Made Us: Trailer

    EPISODE 5

    How Reading Made Us: Trailer

    The story of how reading made us and what might happen if we stop - with James Marriott.

    2 min
See All Season 9 (5)

Hosts & Guests

About

NEW in Understand: How Reading Made Us Did learning to read rewire our brains and change the way we live today? And with reading on the decline, what does this mean for our ability to think? With writer James Marriott. Understand from BBC Radio 4 - unravelling the complexities of the biggest stories and subjects that really matter right now.

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Episodes
    80
  • Seasons
    9
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    Understand

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