To Meacham, the soul represents not so much a religious or spiritual entity but “an immanent collection of convictions, dispositions, and sensitivities that shape character” (6). When extended to a nation like America, it represents those same convictions and dispositions held by millions of Americans. At times, a workable consensus exists based on attitudes shared by a majority of Americans. Other times, however, the soul of America is deeply divided, and it is on these eras—Reconstruction, the Great Depression, the civil rights era, and the Trump era—that Meacham focuses. This is why, as he puts it, “The message of Martin Luther King, Jr.—that we should be judged on the content of our character, not on the color of our skin—dwells in the American soul; so does the menace of the Ku Klux Klan” (7).