The founding myth of America has shaped national identity for 250 years, but we're now split into opposing camps claiming it as their own. NYT journalist Jia Lynn Yang explores why one side obsessively defends the founders' virtue while the other deconstructs their flaws—and whether a shared understanding of the founding is still possible. Myths about America's founding serve as identity-binding stories for disparate groups lacking common language, religion, or geography, not merely as falsehoods to be discarded.