Subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and it earns every word. AIDS, Mormonism, Roy Cohn, angels crashing through ceilings: Kushner wrote the great American epic play of the late twentieth century. It runs seven hours across two parts and never drags. The play insists that history hurts but progress is real.

The case for it, the case against, and the rest of the canon open with Pro.