On History and Context with Amanda Van Dort

Amanda Van Dort is a McCain Institute American Democracy and Technology Fellow, and an Adjunct Professor for Johns Hopkins and GWU teaching undergraduate and graduate courses on issues related to Women, Peace, and Security. She's also a former diplomat, most recently serving the Department of State as Chief of Staff in the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues, building on her background advancing the rights of women globally and addressing the needs of survivors of conflict-related sexual violence. Amanda is spending her post gov era hitting the books and thinking big thoughts on the roots of American democracy, revisiting documents drafted by the founding fathers, and studying their cultural influences to better understand not just what they said, but what they meant. We're talking about her path into government service, her thoughts on what it means to go "back to basics," her elevator pitch for why gender matters, and our shared assessment of whether the public education system prepares kids to engage with the most critical questions of our time.

Links to a few of Amanda's top reads:

First Principles by Thomas Ricks: Buy on Thriftbooks

Our Declaration by Danielle Allen: Buy on Thriftbooks

Sex and the Constitution by Geoffrey Stone: Buy on Thriftbooks