“…you should think of American history as a drama of incomparable sweep and importance, where all the great questions of human existence and human history – the proper means and ends of liberty, individuality, order, democracy, material prosperity, and technology, among others – have converged, been put into play and brought to a high pitch, and are being worked out and fought over and decided and undecided and revised, even as you read this. It is a drama of enormous consequence, with both praiseworthy and execrable aspects, whose outcome even now is far from certain. There is no need to jazz up American history, or dress it up in colorful period costumes, as if it were a subject that is not inherently riveting. On the contrary. The most consequential themes of human history are here in abundance, every single one of them. Whoever is bored with American history is, to paraphrase Dr. Johnson, bored with life.”
–Wilfred McClay, A Student’s Guide to U.S. History, Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2000
Daniel Boone escorting settlers through the Cumberland Gap, George Caleb Bingham, 1851-52. Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, MO.
A great article on the importance of understanding the “real” American history. I also loved the Gershwin article. Very informative about a man I knew so little about, but love his music which now has more meaning for me.