How America Gave Up on Its Own History
“Unable to agree on how to interpret the American story, the country’s schools, universities, and political institutions have stopped trying to tell it at all.”
Just as individuals construct stories that assert their identity, so do other social and political groups, including nations. Yoni Appelbaum, deputy executive editor of The Atlantic, describes the difficulty of getting various scholars and politicians to agree on a national narrative for the United States in the current condition of turmoil and division.
The 26 Most American Books of All Time
I admit that I include lists like these for the purpose of spawning discussion. Here the editors of Esquire present their list of books that best “exemplify America” in honor of the nations 250th anniversary.
Please discuss in the comments.
How the Rest of the World Sees America (Through the Eyes of Its Writers)
“The world is watching the changing politics in the United States carefully, out of fear, out of desperation and in some cases out of a sense of regret that the US has not learned from its peers abroad,” writes Madeleine Schwartz. Here she analyzes how writers in other countries now see the United States.
Can Art Teach?
“Calling something ‘didactic’ has become grounds for immediate dismissal. But do the merits of works with an educational bent—from ‘The Pitt’ to ‘Elizabeth Costello’—suggest we should think again?”
For The New Yorker, David S. Wallace discusses whether art, such as television shows can—or should—instruct audiences in morality.
‘I refuse to be a second-class citizen in my own land’: Taiwanese International Booker winner Yáng Shuāng-zǐ
“The author of historical novel Taiwan Travelogue, and its translator Lin King, discuss the threat from Beijing, LGBTQ+ rights and the island’s culinary delicacies”
“Taiwanese people are suffering from an identity crisis,” she tells me. “Some of us believe ourselves to be Chinese and then others believe that we are Taiwanese, and I wanted to express that somehow through my book. As Taiwanese people, we need to ask ourselves now – do we want to go back to being colonised? Do we want to have to live like that again? Be second-class citizens in our own land? I refuse.”
7 Hybrid Memoirs That Merge Art and Family
Everyone’s life story begins at home. “For writers who grow up with artistic parents or parent-figures—immersed in the worlds of literature or theater, photography, or sculpture from a young age—family is often tethered to an impulse to create,” writes Lauren W. Westerfield. Here she discusses works that are “experiments in nonfiction, essay, and memoir that engage with art and coming-of-age narratives simultaneously. These books unpack the ways in which family, media, and story shape and change us.”
“I Missed Out On So Much”: 15 Deep Regrets From Older Adults That Will Make You Want To Say “Yes” To Life
For BuzzFeed, Zoe Robotin discusses some of the answers she got when she asked people if there’s something in their lives that they regret. There’s a lot of variety in the responses.
Crossing the Wine Dark Sea by Emily Wilson review – a masterclass in translation
Emily Wilson is the lates classicist to translate Homer’s epics Odyssey and Iliad. Her latest work is Crossing the Wine Dark Sea: Journeys through Ancient Literature, in which she discusses her concepts of translation. Language is about the most all-encompassing social construct in that it provides the words with which people can express their feelings, feelings, and values.
“The tensions and complexities of the original should always be made legible, she [Wilson] believes,” writes Blake Morrison for The Guardian.
© 2026 by Mary Daniels Brown
