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Call it our 鈥渟emiquincentennial鈥� or, if you are up for the challenge, try moving your jaw and tongue around 鈥渂isesquicentennial.鈥� Difficult as it may be to name the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, it is even harder to know what to make of the American experiment in 2026.

鈥淚t has never been worse,鈥� a common sentiment seethes regarding the day鈥檚 political violence, social turmoil, never-ebbing tides of corruption and attacks on the free press and elections. All this and more, while we citizens face higher costs for the essentials of life, environmental depredation, and worries that new technology makes us redundant. Our addictive pocket computers scream at us with controversies and sever us from friends, relatives, even our own selves.

It has never been as bad as this, the American laments. Is the end of the union nigh?

鈥淚n any age, life confronts all but the most obtuse with a set of impossible demands,鈥� the historian Jacques Barzun wrote in his beautiful 1990 essay, 鈥淭oward a Fateful Serenity:鈥� 鈥淚t is a confused spectacle to be sorted out and charted: it is a mystery, not indeed to be solved, but to be restated according to some vision, however imperfect.鈥�

Barzun, remarkably, witnessed the world as it was before World War I through the entirety of the 20th century until his death in 2012 鈥� a man who observed epochs arrive and pass with an attitude he named 鈥渟pirited pessimism.鈥�

What sort of vision, then, navigates the foggy waters and tempests of our time? A new book from a newer generation of historians points us toward reclaiming a civic spirit honed by study of the republic鈥檚 darkest chapters.

Greg Jackson is a professor and host of the , which delivers thoughtful, well-scripted hour-long episodes dramatizing world history through audio theater, storytelling for a general audience and occasional interviews.

Out next week from Simon & Schuster, is Jackson鈥檚 account of eight exemplary stories, most of them from our struggles through the 19th century, echoing major themes of 21st century political vexations. These include the democratic stress tests of the Trump era and the implications of Jan. 6, without hammering the man himself or even mussing his hair.

鈥淏een There, Done That鈥� is not as flippant as its title may suggest, though it is written in a jocular style the reader will find jaunty or nettlesome according to taste. We are on a cheeky first-name basis with every figure in the book, even generals and presidents. The notable exception is Abraham Lincoln.

The author鈥檚 project is earnest: looking for the reasons the union survived its bleakest, most violent and anti-democratic hours. We explore the beating of Charles Sumner on the Senate floor; the Civil War and failed Reconstruction; the time Louisiana had rival governors and an insurrection in New Orleans; the compromise that put Rutherford Hayes in the White House; the South鈥檚 trajectory to Jim Crow; and yellow journalism.

Jackson rests his positive prognosis on a framework of public virtues with a prescription of perpetual learning, civic engagement and participating in the political process 鈥� especially locally.

It鈥檚 an optimistic conclusion emphasizing recurring patterns in American history. Yes, we have seen many of these problems before, some never went away, and the union has survived because a critical mass of the people have opted to work with the Constitution rather than abandon it.

One might have liked more discussion of systemic forces and late-capitalist relations that mitigate against a healthy civic ethos in the 21st century. The latter needs an education system and pedagogy not exclusively focused on training employees; robust campaign finance and election rules; and universal health and security that allows and encourages a diverse, working populace to be involved in politics and collective action.

Where the persistent optimist and spirited pessimist come together, through Jackson鈥檚 skillful storytelling, is in the richness of taking history personally, invigorating a sense of possibility and purpose.

鈥淏een There, Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome,鈥� by Greg Jackson. 432 pages. Simon & Schuster, New York. $31.