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“Prepare the new world an asylum for mankind”
In early 1776, Common Sense went viral in the colonies, turning heads and tipping the scales toward independence.
Jul 4
•
Brad Skow
3
1
1
Love of Country, II: America the beautiful
What is the American aesthetic? The question sounds like the setup for a joke. It must be as brash as a billboard advertisement, as saccharine as a…
Jul 1
•
Brad Skow
3
2
June 2026
Love of Country, I
Patriotism gets some side-eye from many, and—in elite clubs and back-room meetings—patriotic Americans get more. But patriotism can be defended, and is…
Jun 30
•
Brad Skow
9
1
2
Lives of the Eminent Philosophers: Thales
To the promotions committee, this is my evaluation of Thales’ case for tenure.
Jun 27
•
Brad Skow
16
1
7
“With complete disregard for his own safety”
There is “poetry in the raw” commemorating the Americans who fought in WWII, hidden in government-issued documents, especially the awards for heroism…
Jun 25
•
Brad Skow
2
1
Aesthetic Nano-Manifesto
Lady Macbeth wasn’t sure her husband had it in him, to kill a king:
Jun 21
•
Brad Skow
3
6
1
Editorial on Harpers Ferry: October 1859
On October 16th, 1859, John Brown raided the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, aiming to acquire arms and a base from which to start a slave…
Jun 19
•
Brad Skow
2
2
“Birds of prey hover over it”
Unequaled among Americans, Lincoln does have a mirror-image, or counterpart, in Herman Melville, who’s style is as Romantic, lop-sided, and ebullient as…
Jun 17
•
Brad Skow
8
3
Writers Without Babies
Review of Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed
Jun 13
•
Brad Skow
11
4
“Nor must Uncle Sam’s Web-feet be forgotten”
The greatest prose stylist America has yet produced, was also our greatest president.
Jun 10
•
Brad Skow
2
2
“A cross between Abe Lincoln and Jesus”: Jim Henson invents the Muppet
Jim Henson knew from the first that he wanted to work in television.
Jun 6
•
Brad Skow
22
3
Emo Ben Franklin / Birthday Sale
Abraham Lincoln never referred to the Confederacy as if it were a separate nation. Instead they were “states in rebellion,” or “the seceded states, so…
Jun 4
•
Brad Skow
8
1
3
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