It was the spring of 1781, and war had come to Virginia. Many Virginians were fighting elsewhere with George Washington’s forces, weakening the ability of the state to resist British advances. King George’s troops, some of them commanded by defector Benedict Arnold, had earlier that winter conducted raids and fought skirmishes with Americans along the…
Not Just Paul Revere: The Unknown Story of the Night Rider in Virginia Who Warned the British Were Coming
America’s Fourth Largest City Is Named After Him. Who Was Sam Houston?
Gen. Sam Houston rested under an oak tree on the coastal plains of Texas near Buffalo Bayou, his left ankle shattered by a copper ball. He and his Texian army of 783 men had just defeated a Mexican army detachment of about 1,500 soldiers under the command of Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, president…
How an Author and a Grieving Father Found Unexpected Healing Through Playing a Game of Catch
On the morning of September 20, 2020, author Ethan Bryan sat down in the rear of Mudhouse Coffee in downtown Springfield, Missouri. Bryan sipped a mocha. The smell of sizzling sausage and bell peppers drifted out of the kitchen, just a few feet away. Normally, Bryan would be writing, but today was different. He’d recently…
Book Recommender: An Adventure Mystery Explores Fascism and Anti-Fascism in America
C.J. Box has been writing about the fictional adventures of Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett for over two decades. During that time, Pickett has remained happily married and watched his daughters grow up. He has become a little battered and a little slower over time, yet he still loves his job. “Shadows Reel” is the…
The Iron Horse: The Yankees’s Lou Gehrig Was a Titan on the Field, Humble as a Man, and Beloved by Millions
Earle F. Zeigler, a founder of the North American Society of Sport Management, once wrote that “from antiquity we know that ‘hero’ was the name given to a man of ‘superhuman strength, courage, or ability, favoured by the gods; regarded later as demigod and immortal.’” He further defined a cultural hero as “a mythicized historical…
Fields of Arizona Gold: Hayden Flour Mills is on a Mission to Save America’s Heritage Grains From Extinction
“My dad and I have one rule: He’s only allowed to tell me one new idea a day”—so Emma Zimmerman begins her book, “The Miller’s Daughter.” Yet it was one of Jeff Zimmerman’s “wild ideas” in 2009 that halted Emma’s doctoral path in neuroethics and set her on the road to what she now calls…
Book Recommender: Examining How Religion Has Buoyed America Throughout Its History
“American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation” was written by a former magazine and book editor. However, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham is best known as a historian, having written more than a dozen history books as well as served as a trustee for such institutions as the Smithsonian National…
‘the Last of the Mohicans’ or the First of America’s Branded Heroes? Exploring How the Archetype Has Endured in American Literature and Cinema
October 14, 2022
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American EssenceArts & CulturebooksBrightfrontierJames Fenimore CooperLast of the MohicansNathaniel Bumppo
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“The Last of the Mohicans” is often dismissed as a boring old novel full of dense descriptions, epitomizing Mark Twain’s definition of a “classic” as “something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.” Twain himself did not think much of its author, James Fenimore Cooper, whose “literary offenses” he lampooned in…
Grammy-Winning Fiddler Eileen Ivers On How the Positive Energy of Music Brings People Closer Together
Eileen Ivers uses her violin “Bluey” to help people overcome hardships through music, and to teach them to look for the positive and live life with gratitude. Ivers—Grammy-winning violinist, composer, producer, educator, author of new children’s book “Will Someone Play Bluey?” and nine-time All-Ireland Fiddle Champion—has loved playing music since she was a child. But…
If Walls Could Talk: Touring James Madison’s Virginia Family Home at Montpelier
October 13, 2022
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American EssenceArts & CultureBrightdemocracyDinsmorefounding fatherHistoryJames MadisonMontpelierVirginia
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“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance: And a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives,” wrote President James Madison. For six months, the “Father of the Constitution” sequestered himself in his upstairs study in the family’s Virginia home, Montpelier. There, he engaged in an intensive study…
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