IN THE September 9, 2019, ISSUE
What We Love about America: An Introduction
At the end of summer, we wanted to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming.
Magazine
Also In This Issue
What We Love About America
What We Love about America: An Introduction
At the end of summer, we wanted to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming.
The Great American Road Trip
As the writer S. C. Gwynne has pointed out, the American frontier didn’t end in California, but in the wild west of Texas.
On Visiting Civil War Battlefields
It is grim to revisit a time when our nation was at war with itself. But it is good for us to remember what they did, and why.
America’s Abandoned Places
Americans, nervous, aspiring, and perpetually in a hurry, have no patience with antiquity.
Everyday Americans: Unknown Unknowns
As I’ve aged, I’ve come to think that landscape is less an emblem of America than are its admirable and unsung people.
The American Middle Class
Elites may mock the middle class in its culture and tastes, but usually the middle class has had the last laugh.
Envy and American Art
Our identity as citizens, as Americans, draws from notions of freedom the way a tree draws water.
American Men
American men — with few exceptions — treat you like a human being, in a free, natural way, because they’ve done it from the nation’s youth.
The Ancestral Diversity of Americans
Wherever you are in the world, you have kinfolk, however distantly related, in America.
A Certain Brashness
At naturalization ceremonies, the presiding officer says ‘You are now just as American as descendants of the Mayflower Pilgrims.’
Readers Who Have Surprised Me
After some 80 years roaming among the American people, I continue to be delighted, every so often blown away, by them.
My Husband’s Deployment
Those we loved the most were going overseas to preserve what makes us free, because it won’t preserve itself.
Washington, D.C.: My Boyhood Olympus
America’s capital is simultaneously corrupt, yet sacred — a rascally and fallible and enchanted place.
Mount Vernon
George Washington created something between a manor and a farmhouse, an abode for a republican citizen.
Memories of Maine
The coast of Maine seems fully and productively absorbed not by some national debate or controversy but by its own business.
Fifth Avenue, New York City
The avenue has stories to tell — and you don’t need a guidebook to realize that.
Las Vegas: The Allure of the Ersatz
Las Vegas is a terrible place to visit, but it is a great place to live.
Why Football Is Great
Scary strength and breathtaking ingenuity: That’s football, that’s America.
Baseball Plays at the Plate
Homers are spectacle, double plays usually snappy and brisk, but the play at the plate is something else altogether.
Irving Berlin
Everything flowed into the American song through Berlin, creating a great melting pot of melody.
Louis Armstrong’s ‘When You’re Smiling’
Louis Armstrong’s recording of ‘When You’re Smiling’ is the all-American song.
The American Songbook
This supreme expression of American confidence and creativity seemed to come out of nowhere.
Why I Love Superhero Movies
Superhero movies are the McDonald’s of American arts, and everyone loves McDonald’s.
American Desserts
You can learn more about America by eating some of our unique creations than you can in a year of history class.
The Summer Ice-Cream Stand
The Italians have gelato; Americans, at least in the corner of New England where I grew up, have the summer ice-cream stand.
In Praise of Free Refills
In the real-life dimensions of diners and fast-food places and hunger and thirst, America is a spectacularly generous place.
Books, Arts & Manners
The Cold War of Words
A review of Cold Warriors: Writers Who Waged the Literary Cold War, by Duncan White.
The Not-So-Enigmatic Clarence Thomas
A review of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas, by Corey Robin.
Louisa May Alcott: A Writer for All Ages
A discussion of the great American author, Louisa May Alcott.
Sections
For Whom the Ringtone Tolls
There’s a crackdown coming on robocalls, and it can’t come soon enough.
From the Adventures of Donald J. Trump, Private Detective
Chapter Six: A Tweet before Dying
