Founder's Fire: From 1776 to the Age of Trump is a landmark historical and intellectual opus by American historian and sociologist Arthur Herman, a New York Times bestseller and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. The book was officially published by Center Street Publishing on April 21, 2026, to coincide with the celebrations of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.The book offers a bold rereading of American history, embracing the idea that the driving force of America through the ages has not been bureaucratic institutions, but a special kind of leader called “founders,” innovators, risk-takers, and rebels who reinvent the country in times of crisis and stagnation.The author presents an intellectual framework that explains an ongoing conflict in history between the “founders” who possessed the vision and passion, and the “managers” who later took over the management of projects and institutions, drowning them in the language of numbers, institutional stagnation, and bureaucracy, until a new generation of founders emerged to reignite that fire based on first principles.The book traces this spiritual and intellectual connection extending from 1776 to the present era, reviewing historical and contemporary examples of political leaders, entrepreneurs, and reformers who changed the face of America, such as:
Political leaders and reformers: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, all the way to modern-day political rebels like Donald Trump.Entrepreneurs and Technology: Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and John Rockefeller, all the way to contemporary technology giants like Steve Jobs and Elon Musk.
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