Mobocracy and the Founding
The Will of the People: The Revolutionary Birth of America By T. H. Breen. The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019. Hardcover, 216 pages, $30. Reviewed by Jason Ross In the midst of a wave of populist revolutions upsetting global politics, Timothy...
The British Are Coming
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777 by Rick Atkinson. Henry Holt and Co., 2019. Hardcover, 800 pages, $40. Reviewed by William Anthony Hay Epic conflicts that punctuate American history have profoundly shaped it. The Civil...
The Loyalist Arguments
God against the Revolution: The Loyalist Clergy’s Case against the American Revolution by Gregg L. Frazer. University Press of Kansas, 2018. Hardcover, 320 pages, $35. Reviewed by William Anthony Hay Historians over recent decades have put considerable effort...
A Conflicted Idea of America
These Truths: A History of the United States by Jill Lepore. W. W. Norton, 2018. Hardcover, 960 pages, $40. Part One: The Idea (1492–1799) Reviewed by Craig Bruce Smith “The United States is founded on a set of ideas,” says eminent historian Jill Lepore in the opening...
There are metaphorical hills on which I would be willing to die. The Oxford comma is one of them.
So easy to forget that the best way to educate yourself is to read great works of literature and philosophy, then talk about them. Bring back the salon!