Big Ideas Sarah Churchwell asks — Will American democracy survive the Dark Enlightenment?
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Dec 23, 2025 
Sarah Churchwell, historian of American literature and public memory, explores how myths like Gone with the Wind shape politics. She traces white supremacist narratives, Christian nationalism, tech-funded neo-feudal ideas, and coordinated attacks on universities, libraries and media. The talk charts the long history behind today's restorationist populism and what is at stake for democratic knowledge.
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How A Novel Became Political Myth
- Gone with the Wind functions as white supremacist myth-making that sanctifies restored racial dominance.
- Sarah Churchwell argues this myth shapes American grievance politics and corrodes democratic memory.
Reconstruction As Counter-Revolution
- Reconstruction saw organized armed counter-revolution to restore white rule through terror and coups.
- Churchwell links these historical insurrections to a continuous pattern of anti-democratic violence in U.S. history.
U.S. Roots Of 20th-Century Fascism
- Early 20th-century eugenics and nativism fed transatlantic fascist ideas and policies.
- Churchwell shows American thinkers and laws influenced European fascism and restrictionist immigration acts.
