Category: Imported

ence; Hawthorne, whose views resembledrnMelville’s but who was in sorrowfulrndecline; gentle Whittier, who, nearlyrnunique among abolitionists, hated thernsin of slavery but not the slaveholdingrnsinner; Emerson, the morally irresponsible,rnegotistical, nasty, self-serving prototypernof the American liberal intellectual.rnIt is a measure of our low contemporaryrnestate that Reconstruction, the mostrncorrupt and shameful episode of thernwhole of our national history,...

(“Let us make humankind in our image”),rnand its general tone and contentrnplace the Companion comfortablv withinrnthe modernist, skeptical mentality. Itrnproceeds consciously from the Enlightenmentrntradition, which, as the editorsrnremind the reader, dispensed once andrnfor all with the notion of the Bible asrn”God’s eternal, infallible, and completernword.” hi line with this presupposition,rnthe Companion’s bibliograph- lacks arnsingle representative...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From thernLower RightrnJohn Shelton ReedrnDeo VindicernOne day last September I was visited byrna couple of guys who were writing a coverrnstory on the South for a Dutch magazine.rnThey had been to Darlington,rnTuskegee, Oxford, Charleston, and otherrnshrines of Southern culture, and I wasrnpleased to see that Chapel Hill was stillrnon the list. Over Allen &...

With loud huzzahs and bayonetsrnfixed, the corporal’s guard of Yanks (onernof them in a dashing Zouave outfit)rncharged the trench, broke the greenrnSouth Carolina militiamen who werernmanning it and drove them back, thenrnwent on to rout the second line and drivernthem back. Meanwhile, off to the side,rnthe equally outnumbered Union horsesoldiers,rnsabres drawn, were mixing it uprninconclusively...

VITAL SIGNSrnFlags as Symbolsrnby Jack KershawrnAt the end of the 60’s, the Establishmentrnbegan a deliberate campaignrnto destroy a number of American smbolsrnit considered inimical to black welfare.rnThat these symbols—such as thernvarious flags of the Confederate States ofrnAmerica and the song “Dixie”—arernrevered by a large section of our countryrnfor reasons not connected with race orrnhatred of...

443,98″^ including Washington, D.C.,rnwhich liad a shie population of ^,185rn(U.S. Census, 1860). (West Virginia wasrncalculated bv counting the Virginiarncounties that later comprised West Virginia.)rnNone of these states was requiredrnto free its shn’cs in order to remain in thernUnion. These slaves were not freed atrnthe beginning of the war or by thernEmancipation Proclamation. That noblerndocument freed...

to turn tail and run when they do. Torntake a philosophical instance: Leibniz, asrnBertrand Russell tells in his History ofrnWestern Philosophy (1945), did work onrnmathematical logic that “would havernbeen enormously important, if he hadrnpublished it.” But he refrained, out ofrnfear and modesty:rnHe abstained from publishing becausernhe kept on finding evidencernthat Aristotle’s doctrine of the syllogismrnwas...

artist that he should be original?rnOne way to answer that questionrnwould be to consider what qualificationsrnwould make the demand of artistic originalityrnlook plausible. A musicologistrnonce remarked that the most boring musicrnwas either wholly familiar or whollyrnunfamiliar. That at least lays down somernof the ground rules of the debate.rnWholly familiar music like a classic symphonyrnneeds to...

fear of originality largely irrelevant. Whyrnfear what you cannot have? This cannotrnbe a truth for all times, but merely for anrnage like ours that is old. Someone, afterrnall, must once have discovered that sla’-rnery was wrong—an original moralrnthought, though it cannot be attributed.rnSomeone, equally unattributed, mustrnhave invented drama, someone thernnovel. Someone invented the wheel.rnBut what...

Roosevelt handpicked Taft to be his successor.rnRoosevelt was so popular andrnpowerful that he could have put virtuallyrnam one in the White House in 1909.rnHe was idiosyncratic enough to selectrnBill Taft, probably because the lethargicrnTaft would never have had enough ambitionrnto seek the job on his own initiative,rnhi reality Taft was a good Presidentrnand a fine...

avoided if only Woodrow Wilson hadrnsimply kept his nation out of the war,rnwhich Wilson promised to do with nauseatingrnregularity while he was runningrnfor reelection.rnBut as if two great mistakes were notrnenough for one President, Wilson’s blindrncrusade to “make the world safe forrndemocracy” also led to a third mistake.rnIn financing the Great War, Wilson set arnprecedent...

The Hundredth Meridianrnby Chilton Williamson, /r.rn29,000 LeaseholdersrnThe war on the West is not going badlyrn—from a Westerner’s point of view.rnAs of mid-February, salient victories includedrnthe successful filibuster, by Westernrnsenators, of Interior Secretary BrucernBabbitt’s range reform bill; the routing ofrnthe obnoxious Representative MikernSynar (Democrat-OK), the congressionalrninstigator of “reform”; the firing ofrnthe arrogant Jim Baca from his...

in his magisterial Cadillac Desert, “was arnhalf-century rampage of dam-buildingrnand irrigation development which, in allrnprobability, went far beyond anythingrnPowell would have liked.” It was alsornthe ingenious Rube Goldberg system ofrnreservoirs, aqueducts, canals, and tunnelsrnwithout which half or more—rnperhaps much more—of the presentrnpopulation west of the Mississippi Riverrnwould be living east of it instead. Unlikernthe South...

Rush Limbaugh explains why he gives thisrnextraordinary anthology by Reagan Cabinetrnmember William Bennett his unqualifiedrnendorsement:rn”The Book of Virtues is built on an oldrnphilosophical principle nearly foi;gotten inrnthe public discussion (and in certain recentrnpresidential campaigns), but it is an idea Irnhave long championed: Character matters.rnWhat a concept! But beware — somernof the lessons in this book...

‘•^^^ “^^^ “^^^ ^^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “^^^ ^^^ ‘^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “”^^^ “^^^ ‘^^^ “^^^ “””^^^ “^^^ “^^^ “^^^ -^^^^ ‘^^^^ ^^^^ “^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ‘^^^^ ‘^^^^ ^^^^ “^^^^ ‘^^^” ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ‘^^^^ ‘^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ “”^^^^ ‘^^^^ “^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ‘^^^^ ‘^^^^ -^^^^rnTHE COSTS o r TVARrnA...

EDITORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, ]r.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnChristine HaynesrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDITORSrn]ohnW. Aldridge, Harold O.].rnBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelrnFrancis, George Garrett,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rnJohn Shelton Reed, Momcilo Selic,rnDavid R. SlavittrnEDITORIAL SECRETAKVrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCOMPOSITION MANAGERrnAnita FedorarnCIRCULATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Rockford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn954...

Recently, while looking through magazinesrnat my local book superstore, I camernacross Chronicles. The first thing I noticedrnwas John Meroney’s piece allegingrnplagiarism by Maya Angelou. As an Englishrnteacher, I have more than a passingrninterest in plagiarism. Also as a teacher,rnI give poor grades when students do notrnsupport their arguments, hi a magazinernof national culture, I’d expect...

poured as much energy into prayer forrnworld peace, we’d probably have it. Inrnthe meantime, we can ponder the impactrnof Elvis.rn—Cathryn HanklarnELVIS IS ALIVE at a museum inrnWright, Missouri. When I drive by arnsign reading “He lives!” in rural America,rnI often have difficulty telling whether itrnrefers to Jesus or Elvis, but in Wright arnhuge billboard assures...

plavcd in a state that still flies the Starsrnand Bars. And it is this same apoplexyrnconcerning issues of race that preventsrncolleges and universities from combatingrnthe specious charges of organizations likernthe Black Coaches Association, whichrnregulari whines that because the Thirdrn’Vorld-le’el admission standards of ourrnstate universities are still too high forrnmany black athletes, racism reigns—ipsornfacto—in the halls...

ber of potentially credible witnesses ofrnboth sexes. Keep notes, perhaps audio orrnvideo tapes.rnWhile certainly no one who worksrnwith or for you would ever become sufficientlyrndisturbed or angry to seekrnvengeance . . . it’s been known to happen.rnBy merely keeping a diary of thesernsorts of discussions, and by discussingrnher discomfort privately with friends, anyrnwoman can later...

rison cult spread to an entirely new generation.rnIt thrives today, spurred by admirersrnand imitators in New Wave bandsrnfrom Berlin to Los Angeles. Their anthemrnis the graffiti on the tombstonesrnleading to Morrison’s grave: “Kill yourrnparents,” “The Lizard King lives,” “Breakrnon through to the other side,” “It’s betterrnto burn out than fade away,” and “Irnwill see you...

Another idea—vvhieh was presentedrnto me as an Alaskan legislator from 1985rnto 1987—is for Alaska, Yukon, andrnBritish Columbia all to secede and formrnthe Republic of Northwest America.rnWhether that’s a good idea or not, it isrnfar easier for a province to secede thanrnfor a state to do so.rnDISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Statehoodrnhas been suggested for D.C., butrnthat would...

Principalities & Powersrnbv Samuel FrancisrnBeam Us OutrnOn a morning in April 1990, practitionersrnof the journalistie eraft received inrntheir mail a communication from onernJack Liehtenstein, at that time the directorrnof public affairs for the NationalrnEndowment for the Arts, an agency thenrnembroiled in a desperate onslaught by anrnarmy of Philistines, voters, and taxpayersrnwho imagined that they ought...

partments, literature departments, writers-rnand artists- and poets-in-residence,rnand so forth. Outside the universities,rnwhat passes as popular culture manifestsrnitself in television, films, journalism,rnpublishing, music, museums, galleries,rnand amusement parks, all of which arernbureaucratic and professionalized inrnform, most of which are directly or indirectlyrndependent on the state, and all ofrnwhich claim to provide for the people arnculture that is...

wrote plays that they produced themselvesrnin local theaters instead of packingrnthe house to gibber over Madonna, MichaelrnJackson, Wayne’s World, and Nightmarernon Elm Street, Part 79. Today, inrnmost American cities and towns, locallyrnowned bookstores that sell anything butrnsecondhand books are almost extinct,rnand the Crowns, Waldens, and B. Daltonsrnthat dominate professional booksellingrnoffer exactly the same stock inrneer-...

PERSPECTIVErnTurn Out the Lightsrnby Thomas FlemingrnIt must have been Sigmund Freud who observed that wheneverrna new technology appears it is applied almost immediatelyrnto some sexual purpose. The dirty old man of Vienna wasrnthinking of such inventions as the photograph and the movingrnpicture, which gave a new impetus to the production and consumptionrnof pornography, but he...

get your hands on the kinds of pornographic materials peoplernonce had to order from France.rnIf we move from the would-be rapist’s bedroom, where hernhas his own computer, television, stereo system, and VCR,rndown to the family room to take a peek at what Mom and Dadrnare w atching, we will not be too surprised at their...

I do not think anyone regarded Ernst Lubitsch’s sex farces asrnfamily entertainment, and although To Be or Not to Be and ThernMerry Widow would offend a Puritan, the vice is frivolous to thernpoint of delicacy, reminiscent of Landor’s description of Catullus:rn”Such stains there are … as when a Grace / Sprinkles another’srnlaughing face / with...

tion and judge it critically; with film and television, such abstractionrnis fatal to the experience. We either have to acceptrnthe show or turn it off. As a compromise, we can dull our brainsrnwith alcohol or pills. I learned this when I found myself enjoyingrnThunderball after the third beer.rnTelevision—including televised sports—makes us all passivernand impotent spectators...

strument in the hands of a good cook, but a microwave oven isrndesigned to heat up prepared foods, just as television is designedrnto pour someone else’s thoughts—already chewed, slobbered,rnand swallowed—into your head.rn”Whatever does not kill me makes me strong.” If there isrnmore than a grain of truth in Nietzsche’s aphorism, then the reversernmight also be...

Why does this differ fromrnevery other hantXbookrnon our government?rn« ^^mcrnoo&c-^NrnClarence Carson pulls no punches as he explains why:rn”It would be a considerable fraud to do a book on American governmentrnwhich talked as if the Constitution were still being substantially observed,rnthat pretended that when Presidents took the oath of ofBce they intendedrnto observe the bounds set...

early teasing edges of springtime. But I am living here and now,rncomposing this text in early January of 1994. It is a frozen,rngrungy day outside, gray on gray, with clumps of old snow in allrndirections, and if the weather report is to be believed, morernsnow on the way. Nothing much going on out there in...

gether, like it or not, destroyed most of the eadier kinds of popularrnculture we had known, replacing these things with professionallyrncontrolled production and distribution of productsrnthat had only a shadowy relationship to original, authenticrnpopular and folk culture. I can well remember the first time—rnit was 1947, and I was living in Greenwich Village—that Irnheard the...

Nevertheless, even though they are desperately few and farrnbetween, there are real people and moments in the history ofrnour popular culture that are worthwhile and worthy of honor.rnFellini and his works (treated elsewhere in this issue) arernsurely among these precious few. And you will have your ownrnspecial favorites and examples, though I am willing to...

proles.” In both dystopias, then, censorship comes from the toprndown and is a weapon of the “government” to control a victimizedrncitizenry.rnThis Wild Palms view of censorship is immensely popularrnwith literary academics, most of whom are convincedrnthat the greatest threat to freedom of speech and thoughtrncomes from the government, not from the people. That’s whyrnan ACLU...

So, in Fahrenheit 451, censorship is not imposed by a sinisterrnelite of power-mad corporate managers or apparatchiksrnbut is the will of the common people themselves:rnThere you have it, Montag. It didn’t come from thernGovernment down. There was no dictum, no declaration,rnno censorship, to start with, no! Technology, massrnexploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick,rnthank God....

requires us to be thiek-skinned and desensitized to the manyrneultural allergens around us. Alarmed by attacks on freernthought in the name of “sensitivity,” Jonathan Ranch, inrnKindly Inquisitors (1993), reminds compassionate professors,rnstudents, and administrators that freedom of speech compelsrnus to go against our natures, to hear unpleasant and even hatefulrnthings, to tolerate unpleasant and even hateful...

Federico Fellini and the White ClownsrnbyR.H.W.DillardrnNear the beginning of Federico Fellini’s Intervista (1988), arnvery large camera crane is about to rise, wreathed inrnsmoke and artificial moonlight, high above the soundstages ofrnCinecitta. One of the camera operators calls down to his directorrn(Fellini being played by Fellini), “Aren’t you coming up?”rn”No,” Fellini immediately replies, “I can imagine...

stro!” Or in The Clowns (1970), Fellini himself, over whosernhead a glue-filled bucket suddenly drops, just as he is about torntell an inquiring journalist what the “message” of his film is. Sornit doesn’t really matter what Swinger Shift (or whatever) saidrnon NPR; Fellini had already put him in the right place on therngreat screen of...

cal central character in Amarcord (1973), wears his fascistrnyouth uniform proudly if not very seriously, and Rubini, the actorrnhired to play the young Fellini in Intervista, snaps into thernfascist salute as easily as everyone around him. Orchestra Rehearsalrn(1979) and Artd the Ship Sails On (1983) don’t sornmuch condemn any one side as they reveal the...

Come Home, AmericarnRock and Roll in Middle Agernby Bill KauffmanrnUnanesthetized amputation cannot be more painful thanrnenduring—no, “endurin”‘—a Bruce Springsteen monologuernabout “growin’ up.” Stopping a concert dead in itsrntracks, he’ll mumble and stammer and “uh, like” his wayrnthrough a tortured and tortuous tale peopled with Wild Billyrnand Sloppy Sue and, best of all, “there was this...

Wolfe/Beat/Huck and Jim rafting down the Mississippi America,rnthe country of yea-singing exuberant cowboy loners like thernone Sal Paradise met in a Nebraska diner. As Bill Carter of thernEnglish band Screaming Blue Messiahs understood: “I thinkrndriving is the last form of freedom—I’m surprised the governmentrnlets you drive at all.” (With the autophobic Al Gore andrnhis censorious...

a left-wing folksinger like Woody Guthrie—who, as it happens,rnis one of Springsteen’s heroes.” Well, Woody Guthrie wrote arnfew good songs, notwithstanding his affection for Uncle JoernStalin, and as an Oklahoma vagabond he knew more of Americanrnlife than, say, your very average pale Manhattan polemicist.rnOne of the mysteries of Bill Glinton’s presidency is how sornshrewd a...

mire Dwight Yoakam merely for having the guts to ask SharonrnStone out.rnEarle is a working-class Americanist, and thus an outlaw.rn(He did a killer live version of Springsteen’s “State Trooper”rnthat ranks among the highlights of my leaning-against-the-wallholding-rna-beer-and-dripping-ennui nightclub days.) He callsrnhimself “somewhat to the right of Attila the Hun,” and he hatedrnReagan for firing his brother,...

Seven Years War in 1763, Sade embarkedrnupon the dissolute life that wouldrnultimately land him in prison. As informationrnnow revealed by Sade’s descendantsrnfor the first time discloses, Sade’srnfather long struggled first to arrange arnmarriage for his son and then to get himrnto the altar without venereal disease.rnAnd the marquis’s marriage to Renee-rnPelagie de Montreuil, daughter of...

and in all cases the misfortunes of his fellowrnman mav become abominable delightsrnfor him.” Nature, according tornhim, “acts only through wickedness,. . .rneverything is vice and corruption, . . .rneverything is crime and disorder in herrnwill and in her works.”rnWhereas Voltaire’s and Laclos’s storiesrnultimately generate a moral message,rnSade’s works yield only cynicism, fright,rnand despair. Liaisons...

CORRESPONDENCErnLetter From Utahrnby William Norman GriggrnThe New Race WarrnLast September, 17-year-old Utah residentrnAaron Chapman found himselfrncaught in traffic outside Salt Lake City’srnTriad Amphitheater following a rockrnconcert. Chapman’s red flannel shirtrnattracted the attention of eight to tenrnTongan Crip gang members, who surroundedrnChapman’s car and beganrntaunting him. Although Chapman ignoredrnthe harassment, the Crips beganrnto punch him through...

of Rodnc’ James, a Los Angeles youthrnwho was shot in the head by a white studentrnwliile attending Utah Valley CommunitrnCollege in Orem. James, a handsome,rnpopular musician, attracted a lotrnof attention from female students. Thisrnprovoked the jealousy of Lyle Murray,rnJames’ roommate, who lured James awayrnfrom campus and shot him. Fortunately,rnJames survived with only minor injury.rnAlthough James...

VITAL SIGNSrnAnatomy of anrnInaugural Poemrnby John Meioney, Jr.rnDiversity and thernMaya Angelou StoryrnEvidence that Maya Angelou mayrnhave borrowed from another poemrnfor the one she dehvered at Bill Clinton’srninauguration was reported in thisrnmagazine last December. The WhiternHouse, having seen the DecemberrnChronicles and the subsequent news storiesrnabout it, appears to have opted torndistance itself from Angelou rather thanrnto...

other references” and used them as herrnown.rnDuring my interview with Cawood,rnhe said, “If Tennille wants to take her on,rnI promise him, he won’t know what hitrnhim.” I asked him to explain. “She’s arnvery articulate—she will respond veryrnaccurately and deliberately to him. Ifrnyou’ve heard her speak, you know herrncommand of the English language andrnher command of...