Skip to main content

A new banner




I was thinking of a banner that would better reflect this blog and came up with The Independent American Reader.  Initially I was thinking of something mineralogical as I sometimes like to think of myself more as an armchair geologist than historian, picking away at the layers of news media with the hope of uncovering some interesting vein, or negotiating the rough currents like my favorite geologist John Wesley Powell.  But, I thought that was getting a little too metaphorical and went with a more straightforward title.  The American Reader had already been taken.

This blog was originally intended as a reading group for American history, but I post more and more on contemporary news stories, films, music and other items to hopefully draw more persons into this blog.  I greatly appreciate all those who do check it out, but would love to see more feedback.  The posts are open for comments.  If you are not a Blogger subscriber, your comments will appear as anonymous, so you can still retain your privacy if you like.

The Reading Group remains an integral part of this blog, although we haven't done one in awhile.  Please feel free to post your suggestions.


Comments

  1. We have done a lot of shared reading over the years on a very wide range of subjects so that I am at a loss for any more suggestions. At present, I am reading via audio book Yunte Huang's "Charlie Chan: The Untold Story of the Honorable Detective".

    I did not know the fictional character was based on a real detective from Hawaii. And as a historical bio it could possibly be interesting reading for the group.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Interesting suggestion. Haven't thought of Charlie Chan in years.

    After watching Grand Hotel Budapest, I find myself reading Stefan Zweig's The World of Yesterday.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

O Pioneers!

It is hard not to think of Nebraska without thinking of its greatest writer.  Here is a marvelous piece by Capote, Remembering Willa Cather . I remember seeing a stage production of O Pioneers! and being deeply moved by its raw emotions.  I had read My Antonia before, and soon found myself hooked, like Capote was by the simple elegance of her prose and the way she was able to evoke so many feelings through her characters.  Much of it came from the fact that she had lived those experiences herself. Her father dragged the family from Virginia to Nebraska in 1883, when it was still a young state, settling in the town of Red Cloud. named after one of the great Oglala chiefs.  Red Cloud was still alive at the time, living on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, in the aftermath of the "Great Sioux Wars" of 1876-77.  I don't know whether Cather took any interest in the famous chief, although it is hard to imagine not.  Upon his death in 1909, he was eulogi

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

  Welcome to this month's reading group selection.  David Von Drehle mentions The Melting Pot , a play by Israel Zangwill, that premiered on Broadway in 1908.  At that time theater was accessible to a broad section of the public, not the exclusive domain it has become over the decades.  Zangwill carried a hopeful message that America was a place where old hatreds and prejudices were pointless, and that in this new country immigrants would find a more open society.  I suppose the reference was more an ironic one for Von Drehle, as he notes the racial and ethnic hatreds were on display everywhere, and at best Zangwill's play helped persons forget for a moment how deep these divides ran.  Nevertheless, "the melting pot" made its way into the American lexicon, even if New York could best be describing as a boiling cauldron in the early twentieth century. Triangle: The Fire That Changed America takes a broad view of events that led up the notorious fire, noting the gro

Colonel

Now with Colonel Roosevelt , the magnum opus is complete. And it deserves to stand as the definitive study of its restless, mutable, ever-boyish, erudite and tirelessly energetic subject. Mr. Morris has addressed the toughest and most frustrating part of Roosevelt’s life with the same care and precision that he brought to the two earlier installments. And if this story of a lifetime is his own life’s work, he has reason to be immensely proud.  -- Janet Maslin -- NY Times . Let the discussion begin!