“Old reference books are like tree rings. Without them, there'd be no way to know what a tree had lived through.”

American historian and journalist, born 1966

Jill Lepore is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper ’41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at The New Yorker. Born in 1966, she is known for writing across American history, law, literature, and politics. Since joining The New Yorker in 2005, Lepore has written essays and reported pieces that connect the past to public life. Her work often moves between historical inquiry and contemporary debate, with a focus on how institutions, ideas, and narratives shape American life.