Did he or didn’t he? American spy Nathan Hale was hanged by the British. Every school child of my and previous generations learned that his final words were,” I regret I have but one life to give for my country” But did he really say that? Smithsonian Magazine investigates.
How did a rather obscure dialect become a, perhaps the, global language? Joel Miller reviews a new book by Laura Spinney, Proto: How One Language Went Global. And he says we should be thankful our ancestors murdered their mother tongue. Without having read the book, I would answer the question by saying “first, the British Empire” and second, “the spread of American culture and power after World War II.” But that’s me.
One of the most beautifully filmed movies I’ve ever seen is 1992’s “A River Runs Through It,” directed by Robert Redford and based on the novel by Norman Maclean. Samuel Rocha at Notre Dame’s Church Life Journal considers the movie and especially the “words beneath the rocks.”
America, or its elites, discovered the First Amendment’s freedom of speech this past week, rushing to defend Jimmy Kimmel and his remarks on the Charlie Kirk murder on constitutional grounds. We all have to wonder where they were when Google, Facebook, and Twitter were censoring conservative voices at the request of the Biden administration (“That was different! That was disinformation!”). Former New York Times reporter Alex Berenson was silenced for questioning the COVID-19 vaccine, as Matt Taibbi at Racket News pointed out this week.
By the way, freedom of speech essentially stops at the workplace door, as determined in numerous court cases. Employers have a wide latitude when it comes to employee behavior and speech. We may have freedom of speech in America, but in the workplace, we do not have freedom from the consequences of our speech. Discretion is advised.
More Good Reads
America 250
A Peculiar Beginning to the Canadian Campaign: Benedict Arnold and the Great Awakening at Newburyport, Sept. 20, 1775 – Rob Orrison at Emerging Revolutionary War Era.
1778 Naval Strategy: French Actors and British Reactors – Bob Ruppert at Journal of the American Revolution.
Silent Slaughter: The Revolutionary War’s Most Brutal Hour – Jason Clark at This is the Day.
Enemies to Their Country: The Marblehead Addressers and Consensus in the American Revolution by Nicholas Gentile– review by Timothy Symington at Journal of the American Revolution.
Sports
Carlos Alcaraz as a White Pill Experience – Yuro Bezmenov at How to Subvert Subversion.
Writing and Literature
Writing is for Humans – Kelsey Peterson at Front Porch Republic.
Talking Tolkien Pt. 1: Words for Wounds – Andrew Roycroft at New Grub Street.
A lack of national identity has killed off the Great American Novel – Michael Gibson at The Spectator.
Why I Will Never Use AI for Writing – Seth Lewis.
Life and Culture
Children need more reading time, education needs less politics – Henry Oliver at The Common Reader.
Midwest Roots, American Aspirations: Charlie Kirk’s Legacy – Jeffrey Bilbro at Front Porch Republic.
The Porcelain Bull in Our Little China Shop – Chris Martin at FYI.
In the Midst of the Story – Spencer Klavan at The New Jerusalem.
Radical Normie Terrorism – Christopher Rufo.
Of Branson and Belonging – Ian Hearn at Front Porch Republic.
When Minors View Violence Online – Emily Harrison at Front Porch Republic.
News Media
Iryna Zarutska and Charle Kirk have exposed the media’s depravity – Roger Kimball at The Spectator.
Poetry
An introduction to T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets – Rabbit Room Poetry.
“Laughter,” poem by G.K. Chesterton – Anthony Esolen at Word & Song.
“The Gates of Damascus (extract),” poem by James Elroy Flecker – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.
Faith
Permission to Grieve – Megan Willome.
The Soul of Man Never Dies – Tony Rice & Ricky Skaggs
Painting: Woman Reading, oil on canvas (1907) by Lucie Cousturier (1876-1925), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
