“The most difficult task in politics,” writes David Bromwich, “the reason for something called statesmanship to exist – is to awaken public sentiments against an entrenched abuse and convince lawmakers and public opinion to act for the improvement of justice.” In this episode, it is my great honour to speak with David Bromwich, Sterling Professor of English at Yale, about how this difficult task was met through the lives and imaginations of two great statesmen: Edmund Burke and Abraham Lincoln. We then consider the potential for reform in the context of contemporary American Breakdown.