Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

What Should a First-Time Visitor to America Read?
National Review ^ | April 7 2018 | Daniel Gerelnter

Posted on 04/08/2018 3:39:59 PM PDT by iowamark

A friend recently posed this question: “If you had to recommend one book for a first-time visitor to the U.S. to read, to understand our country, what would it be and why?”...

If the goal is an education, we could recommend Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager’s Growth of the American Republic, a two-volume history that used to be required reading...

Huckleberry Finn may be the greatest American novel... But there is no single novel, no matter how great, that can do the job alone.

Consider instead the great American essayists who invented a new style of writing in the 1920s and founded The New Yorker. E. B. White’s One Man’s Meat is the finest such essay collection... Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel is nearly as great...

Teddy Roosevelt’s short book The Strenuous Life, which opens with his 1899 speech by that name, is an explanation of America’s view of itself — a view that greatly shaped the 20th century. It was the peculiar marriage of power and prosperity together with a sense of moral urgency. Roosevelt demands an active life, a life of struggling for personal and national virtue. He commends a triad of strength in body, intellect, and character — of which character is the most important. America must meet its moral obligations vigorously, he tells us: “It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”...

The origin of that moral urgency was America’s most important spiritual crisis. It is best expressed in a single speech, rich in Biblical imagery and contemporary prophecy: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, which is the greatest of all American writing. It is a tone-poem or photograph of the American soul. A complete understanding, in just 697 words.

(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education; Travel
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 721-728 next last
I am sorry for needing to excerpt this fine short essay. Most of the works mentioned are available online.
1 posted on 04/08/2018 3:39:59 PM PDT by iowamark
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Well, in LA, they mostly read LA OPINION.


2 posted on 04/08/2018 3:41:34 PM PDT by Blue Collar Christian (Socialism is for losers.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

3 posted on 04/08/2018 3:42:58 PM PDT by iowamark
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

An eye chart, based on the way they drive.


4 posted on 04/08/2018 3:43:05 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo (MAGA/KAG!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Centennial


5 posted on 04/08/2018 3:46:22 PM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC....PATRIOTICALLY CORRECT!!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: ButThreeLeftsDo

That is a beautiful photo, in so many different ways. And very American!


6 posted on 04/08/2018 3:47:04 PM PDT by XEHRpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Oops. my prior reply was for you.


7 posted on 04/08/2018 3:47:41 PM PDT by XEHRpa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: iowamark
What Should a First-Time Visitor to America Read?What Should a First-Time Visitor to America Read?

"The Adventures of Isabel" by Ogden Nash.

8 posted on 04/08/2018 3:47:51 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear ( Bunnies, bunnies, it must be bunnies!! Or maybe midgets....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

The Declaration of Independence.

America’s break-up letter with Britain.


9 posted on 04/08/2018 3:47:53 PM PDT by browniexyz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tzaphon
What Should a First-Time Visitor to America Read?


10 posted on 04/08/2018 3:48:05 PM PDT by Ezekiel ( All who mourn(ed!) the destruction of America merit the celebration of her rebirth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

The Art of the Deal:)


11 posted on 04/08/2018 3:49:11 PM PDT by Ken H (Best election ever!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

12 posted on 04/08/2018 3:52:10 PM PDT by ethom
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Democracy in America, de Tocqueville.


13 posted on 04/08/2018 3:52:46 PM PDT by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

How to win friends and influence people.
Dale Carnegie.


14 posted on 04/08/2018 3:53:14 PM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

IF you want to understand America and it’s special place in all of history read de Touqville


15 posted on 04/08/2018 3:55:32 PM PDT by Nifster (I see puppy dogs in the clouds)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Up From Slavery


16 posted on 04/08/2018 3:56:21 PM PDT by dfwgator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

??? I can not imagine why Lincoln lied that some people wanted to destroy the union. The “union” would have continued on as it has, albeit without as many states. This is the Big Lie and the reason it was not a “civil” war. The southern states wanted only to be left alone and to go their own way. They wanted to “destroy” nothing.


17 posted on 04/08/2018 3:57:49 PM PDT by Lee'sGhost ("Just look at the flowers, Lizzie. Just look at the flowers.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Driving instructions.....AND REGULATIONS!


18 posted on 04/08/2018 4:02:25 PM PDT by Doogle (( USAF.68-73..8th TFW Ubon Thailand....never store a threat you should have eliminated)))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

English.


19 posted on 04/08/2018 4:04:32 PM PDT by OwenKellogg (Merry Christmas!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: iowamark

Forever Amber.

rwood


20 posted on 04/08/2018 4:05:48 PM PDT by Redwood71
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 721-728 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson