Public | Jun, 30 2026 6:30PM - 8:45PM
We invite you to join us on Tuesday, June 30, for a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Beverly Gage on her recent book This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History. First Light Books co-founder Taylor Bruce will moderate the conversation.
This evening is hosted in partnership with First Light Books and the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin and will be part of the LBJ Presidential Library’s series celebrating the new exhibit The American Experiment.
6:00-6:30 p.m. Arrivals + The American Experiment exhibit access + book sales
6:30-7:45 p.m. Conversation with Beverly Gage, moderated by Taylor Bruce
7:45-8:45 p.m. Reception + book sales and signing + The American Experiment exhibit access
About the book
Ride along with Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Beverly Gage as she travels the country to see the museums, historic sites, roadside attractions, reenactments, and souvenir shops where Americans learn—and fight—about our history. From the birth of the nation in Philadelphia to Disneyland and the California dream, This Land Is Your Land offers a guided tour of thirteen places and thirteen key moments that define America’s greatest successes and challenges.
The year 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a document that proclaimed the liberty and equality of all human beings, but produced a country that often failed to agree upon—or live up to—those ideals. This Land Is Your Land is for everyone who wants to find that history—to experience it and confront it, to celebrate it and condemn it—in the places where it happened.
Gage shows that Americans can face their past and still love their country. Toss the book in the back seat—or listen on audio with the windows down—and join the journey.
Book sales and signing
The Store at LBJ will be selling copies of This Land is Your Land: A Road Trip Through U.S. History onsite from 6:00-6:30 p.m. and again following the program. Beverly Gage will be signing copies of the book following the program.
By purchasing through the Store at LBJ, you support a local cultural institution. All proceeds from sales support our programming, exhibits, and educational initiatives at the LBJ Presidential Library.
About the speakers
Beverly Gage teaches American history at Yale. Her book G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century received the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Biography, the Bancroft Prize in American History, the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Biography. She is also the author of The Day Wall Street Exploded: A Story of America in its First Age of Terror, and writes for numerous journals and magazines, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Taylor Bruce is a writer, editor, entrepreneur, and bookshop owner based in Austin, Texas. He’s spent the past quarter-century exploring the boundaries of storytelling and place via media, publishing, brand content, and brick-and-mortar business. After a career in magazine journalism, Taylor created and launched the indie publishing brand Wildsam in 2012. The series of field guides reimagined the travel genre with deep literary soul and classic design. Wildsam built a cult following behind the brand’s comprehensive point of view, its evocative voice, and a who’s-who lineup of cultural contributors. Wildsam published over 65 guides, selling over 1 million copies across 2,000 shops, hotels, museums, and national retailers. In 2022, Taylor sold Wildsam to the Fortune 500 company Camping World, where he led all media and publishing until 2025. Taylor has worked closely with 100+ emerging and iconic brands across adventure, fashion, hospitality, auto, and technology, to craft strategic connections to place. He serves as an advisor to Faherty Brand and is the co-founder of a bookshop-cafe concept called First Light.
About The American Experiment exhibit
Through an exceptional partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration and the Briscoe Center for American History, the LBJ Presidential Library will showcase extraordinary original documents that have shaped the course of American history. Across four rotating exhibitions on display May 30 through January 10, visitors will encounter defining moments—from the Brown v. Board of Education decision and the Fourteenth Amendment to the Louisiana Purchase and the Wright Brothers’ Flying Machine Patent.
Documents on display on the evening of June 30th will include President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Day of Infamy Speech, the treasury warrant for the purchase of Alaska, deed of gift for the Statue of Liberty, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, and President Woodrow Wilson’s April 2, 1917 joint address to Congress leading to a declaration of war against Germany, among others.
The American Experiment initiative pairs these iconic artifacts with dynamic public programs featuring leading historians, authors, and thought leaders. Together, we hope to explore how the American story has unfolded over 250 years—and where it may go next.
Location and parking
The conversation will be hosted in the 10th floor Atrium of the LBJ Presidential Library. Free parking will be available at the LBJ Library visitors’ lot located at 2313 Red River Street.
Registration
Advance registration is requested as space is limited. Please register below:
