What is fraternity? Our guest in this episode of The Way of Improvement Leads Home Podcast, political scientist Susan McWilliams Barndt, discusses her father’s 1973 magnum opus The Idea of Fraternity in America. We talk about the work of Wilson Carey […]
Tocqueville
Roots
Every year in my United States history survey course we spend three or four class periods talking about the meaning of democracy in antebellum America. During a small seminar I introduce students to Alexis De Tocqueville, the author of Democracy […]
The Author’s Corner with Olivier Zunz
Olivier Zunz is James Madison Professor Emeritus of History at the University of Virginia. This interview is based on his new book, The Man Who Understood Democracy: The Life of Alexis de Tocqueville (Princeton University Press, 2022). JF: What led […]
Tocqueville said that “selfishness originates in blind instinct: individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment.” Both are at work in our mask wars.
What is happening to America? The Donald Trump presidency is primarily responsible this mess. He lifted the veil of civility and empowered the kind of people you see and hear about in the video I posted below. If the republic […]