The British Library Foyle Room

Weds 25 March, 18.30-19.30

The assassinations last year of conservative activist Charlie Kirk and Democratic lawmaker Melissa Hortman, the shooting of President Donald Trump in 2024 and the January 6 United States Capitol attack in 2021 – these are just the most visible and spectacular manifestations of deeper and wider currents in American politics and society.

Actions by extremist political groups and individuals – which cost nearly 100 lives in the first six months of 2025 – have been accompanied by an increased militarization and aggression from parts of the US government. The violence of the state and the violence of radicalized parts of American society have reached levels not seen since the late 1960s and 1970s, calling into question many received assumptions about the arc of postwar American history.

But what are the causes of this descent into – or resurgence of – political violence? Nearly 85% of Americas say politically motivated violence is increasing – but voters are evenly split as to whether this is driven by left-wing (53%) or right-wing (52%) extremism. Social media and hyper-partisanship are certainly part of the answer, but does the violence that has been recently directed against and by the state and civil society have deeper roots in America’s bloody history, going back to the Civil War and maybe beyond?

Chaired by Mike Collins, Chair of the British Association for American Studies.