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Category Archives: United States
“America” by Walt Whitman
Centre of equal daughters, equal sons,
All, all alike endear’d, grown, ungrown, young or old,
Strong, ample, fair, enduring, capable, rich,
Perennial with the Earth, with Freedom, Law and Love,
A grand, sane, towering, seated Mother,
Chair’d in the adamant of Time.
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BOOK: “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark TwainMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Available Online – Project Gutenberg
This is Twain’s best-known and probably most beloved work — though arguably neither his best nor most impactful piece. It tells the tale of a mischievous but warmhearted boy, Tom Sawyer, and a series of formative events in Sawyer’s youth from learning how to trick other kids into doing his chores to being trapped deep in a cave with his sweetheart. While there is a plot throughline involving the closest thing the novel has to a villain, Injun Joe, for the most part the story is episodic. That’s for the best because if too much weight were placed on that throughline, it’s resolution would feel flat. As it is, we see Sawyer and his friends, particularly Huck Finn, subjected to trials and challenges (often of their own making) that present moral dilemmas and the need to steel themselves for the occasion.
It’s often been said that this book isn’t as powerful or influential as its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which this book sets up nicely I should point out. It is probably true that Huck Finn is more profound. That said, Tom Sawyer could be said to be a cleaner read in that Huck Finn gets a bit muddled, particularly toward its end.
I’d highly recommend this book for all readers.
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DAILY PHOTO: Skyline From the Concrete Beach, Chicago
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DAILY PHOTO: Rock & Blue Sky
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BOOKS: “American Intellectual History: A Very Short Introduction” by Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen
American Intellectual History: A Very Short Introduction by Jennifer Ratner-RosenhagenPublisher Site – OUP
This is a brief guide to the philosophies and major developments in United States’ academia from pre-colonial times to the 1990’s. But both of those end points require a bit of clarification. The discussion of pre-colonial scholarly history is largely a mea culpa for beginning with colonial history because Native American tribes weren’t big on recording their philosophical and other scholastic ideas in writing. There is an appendix that discusses America scholarship in the era of globalization (and beyond.) My point is that if you’re hoping for discussion of what’s happened in the last couple decades, you won’t find it herein. (There are a few bibliographic references from the 2010’s, but that’s it.) It is a history book, but some readers may be curious because there’s been a lot of talk of late about issues related to scholarship in America.
Overall, I believe the book covered the topic solidly. There is considerable discussion of the debates triggered by the ideas of Charles Darwin arriving on American shores. As one would expect, there is also quite a bit of discussion of Transcendentalism and Pragmatism, two philosophies closely associated with America. The author covered a wide swath of ground including both progressive and conservative thinkers and viewpoints. One conspicuous absence was any mention of Objectivism / Ayn Rand. I know that isn’t a popular topic in academic circles and is widely dismissed with contempt, but on the grounds of: a.) Objectivism’s considerable influence (e.g. we had a Federal Reserve Chairman – Alan Greenspan – who served almost 20 years under both Republican and Democratic Presidents who was from that school of thought,) b.) its distinctive Americanness, I’m shocked that it didn’t merit at least a sentence or any mention of a book in the bibliography.
All in all, it’s an interesting book that offers unique insight into the history of the United States.
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DAILY PHOTO: Scuffed Sky at Sundown
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Tiger Riding for Beginners 