I learned the song when I was a young child: “Yankee Doodle went to London / just to buy a pony, he stuck a feather in his cap / and called it macaroni.” It’s an old song, likely dating to the start of the American Revolution or colonial period. Historians know how it’s been used over the centuries, but it’s still a mystery as to where it came from.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose poetry figures in my novel Brookhaven, wrote the poem that is the most famous about the American Revolution, “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” It was one of the stories included in Tales of a Wayside Inn, published in 1863, as another conflict ranged in America. We have Longfellow to thank for how we understand Paul Revere’s ride, and it happened slightly differently from how he romanticized it. Well, perhaps more than slightly. But it did happen. Kostya Kennedy at Time Magazine explains why the famous ride did indeed matter.
One of the most common headlines I’ve seen in the last 25 years is “Book publishing faces a crisis.” Book Publishing seems to stay in crisis these days, with the latest being what’s perceived as a dramatic drop-off in sales of non-fiction books. Joel Miller at Miller’s Book Review looks at the data and asks, is the non-fiction book crisis for real?
More Good Reads
America 250
Richard Cranch, Boston Colonial Watchmaker – Andrew Dervan at Journal of the American Revolution.
George Washington: The Indispensable Man – Charlton Allen at Real Clear History.
Why George Washington Should Still Inspire Every American – New York Post.
No, George Washington Didn’t Have Wooden Teeth. Yes, he led the Siege of Boston – Michael Casey at Associated Press.
The Sieges of Fort Morris, Georgia – Douglas Dorney, Jr. at Journal of the American Revolution.
The republican “we”: On David McCullough and Walter Isaacson – Michael Taube at The Critic Magazine.
Writing and Literature
Revisiting Milton: A Review of Alan Jacobs’ Biography of Paradise Lost – Amanda Patchin at Front Porch Republic.
Four Unexpected Traits of Great Writers and Artists – Nicholas McDonald at The Bard Owl.
How Wuthering Heights Pushed Victorian Boundaries – Betsy Golden Kellem at History.
Faith
Taking the High Places Down – John Beeson at The Bee Hive.
Throwing Yourself Off the Temple: When Productivity Replaces Trust – Staci Eastin.
News Media
Nancy Guthrie and the gamification of crime – Katherine Dee at The Spectator.
Poetry
“Church Monuments,” poem by George Herbert – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.
“Unexpressed,” poem by Paul Laurence Dunbar – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.
British Stuff
Who governs Britain? – David Shipley at The Critic Magazine.
American Stuff
The Largest Surrender of the Civil War: Bennett Place, North Carolina – Kris White at Boom Goes the History (podcast).
Is-Land – Jeff Johnson
Painting: Corfu, A Rainy Day, oil on canvas by John Singer Sargent (1856-1925).
No comments:
Post a Comment