The Misanthrope’s Corner

NOBODY talks about “Yankee ingenuity” anymore but it used to be a proud catchphrase. Americans were the people who could invent anything, from machines to ourselves.

We used the same technique for both. First, we discerned what was needed and produced it, then we identified the kinks and tinkered with them until we came up with a new, improved model. On the personal level we spoke unabashedly of “reinventing ourselves,” celebrating the practice as an essential part of the American Dream.