Join renowned presidential historian Dr. Lindsay Chervinsky with The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols on John Adams and the seeds of the modern presidency — and Chervinsky’s new book, Making the Presidency.

Intense partisan divides. Debates over citizenship. Fears of political violence and potential foreign conflict. When John Adams became president in 1797, the country faced many of the same challenges it faces today. And in Chervinsky’s authoritative and absorbing new book, she offers a fascinating portrait of how Adams helped shape the presidency — and the American republic — into what it is today. Hear her and Nichols discuss what we can learn from Adams, a fascinating and complex figure — his legislative acumen, his political mistakes, his faith in the peaceful transfer of power — and what it teaches us about who we are as a nation today.