Johanna Roth

A place of longing, a projection screen, a world power – hardly any other country is as charged with hopes, images and contradictions as the United States. In This is America – is this America?, Johanna Roth explores the question of what has remained of the American dream since independence in 1776 – and why it has been ambivalent from the outset. She paints a multi-layered picture of the USA between the promise of freedom and marginalization, political division and cultural radiance. A new look at the past and present of a country that shapes the world – and at the same time is deeply insecure.

Johanna Roth studied literature and political science and graduated from the German School of Journalism. She was an editor at taz and is now the Washington correspondent for Die Zeit.

In the series Schlaglicht USA – Democracy under pressure
250 years of American democracy – and at the same time a political change of course with global consequences: Schlaglicht USA analyzes how the political balance of power is shifting in President Trump’s second term and what security and economic policy consequences “America First” has for transatlantic relations In this series, influential voices from politics, science, law and culture discuss what freedom, justice and democracy mean in the 21st century.