Reasons to Celebrate America

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How to Host the Ultimate Fourth of July Party

By Carla Hall , Mario Batali and Alexander Wang

Garrison Keillor on 9 Things to Fix—Now

By Garrison Keillor

Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Immigrant's Fate Is Everyone's

By Viet Thanh Nguyen

Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan on the Bold Experiment of Our National Parks

By Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan
More in Reasons to Celebrate America

Bill Keller on a Prison That Offers Hope

In theory, we put criminals in prison to punish them, to incapacitate them (for a time), to deter others from following their bad example and to rehabilitate them. Since well over 90% of offenders are...

By Bill Keller

Bread Is Better Than Ever

Thirty years ago, Americans lived on processed white bread, and it was almost impossible to find a fresh baguette or a loaf of sourdough. My friend Eli Zabar began baking fresh breads in a brick...

By Ina Garten

Darren Walker: Giving Back Is a Birthright

Charity--humanity's most benevolent impulse--is a timeless and borderless virtue, dating at least to the dawn of religious teaching. Philanthropy as we understand it today, however, is a distinctly American phenomenon, inseparable from the nation that...

By Darren Walker

8 Incredible BBQ Spots in Texas

We took the ultimate Texas barbecue road trip

By Daniel Vaughn

The 8 Best BBQ Spots in the Carolinas

We took the ultimate Carolinas barbecue road trip

By Rien Fertel

The 8 Best Seafood Spots in New England

We took the ultimate chowder and lobster road trip

By Jane Stern and Michael Stern

12 Great Authors Pick Their Essential American Book

Authors from Ann Patchett to Curtis Sittenfeld share classic favorites

By TIME Staff

71 Celebrities Share Their Favorite Things About America

Picks from Frank Gehry, Blake Shelton, Martha Stewart, Neil deGrasse Tyson and many more

By TIME Staff
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