The amount of Wills that has appeared (directly or indirectly) in my AP US History class specifically from you is a bit concerning. But I can't wait for more of your extended writing on Wills.
Good to see I share a birthday with Wills! I feel fortunate compared to my wife who shares hers with TFG despite the small mitigating effect from it also being Flag Day.
Reading Wills has been a balm for my wounds caused by consuming decades of political mobilization rhetoric.
The Kennedy Imprisonment (HC 1st edition, Library pull) was a great Wills starter book for me, placing the family in a wider historic context than my own experience. I ignored his initial measured distain for Edward and others and felt he followed through to a nuanced and complex picture of the family and the forces each of them experienced. A psychological study was needed to fully express the tragedy of Joe's project.
I'm finishing Bomb Power (HC, like new, Ebay) as a nice supplement/sequel to Oppenheimer which I watched twice recently in the air. And Nixon Agonistes up next (HC 1st good condition Ebay)
Not having read this book yet (another Wills for my bookstore cart!), it feels in line with Wills's small-r republicanism that what he saw writing it seems to have had an influence on his break with the right. The horror of the anti-constitutional nature of the bomb in Bomb Power feels similar to his horror here at this "alien, armed place."
Have you seen this wide ranging conversation from a few years ago with him? I think this was a few months after his wife had passed.
https://youtu.be/0RzqfOeohvM?si=WTC9ajiLr8T4nVtc
Just the Franklin Gothic Condensed makes me happy. Ah, enlightened times! </fontnerd>
Matthew might I refer you to a chapter on Wills in Crossing Swords: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Left, the Disillusionmen of Garry Wills.
The amount of Wills that has appeared (directly or indirectly) in my AP US History class specifically from you is a bit concerning. But I can't wait for more of your extended writing on Wills.
Good to see I share a birthday with Wills! I feel fortunate compared to my wife who shares hers with TFG despite the small mitigating effect from it also being Flag Day.
Reading Wills has been a balm for my wounds caused by consuming decades of political mobilization rhetoric.
The Kennedy Imprisonment (HC 1st edition, Library pull) was a great Wills starter book for me, placing the family in a wider historic context than my own experience. I ignored his initial measured distain for Edward and others and felt he followed through to a nuanced and complex picture of the family and the forces each of them experienced. A psychological study was needed to fully express the tragedy of Joe's project.
I'm finishing Bomb Power (HC, like new, Ebay) as a nice supplement/sequel to Oppenheimer which I watched twice recently in the air. And Nixon Agonistes up next (HC 1st good condition Ebay)
Cheers
Not having read this book yet (another Wills for my bookstore cart!), it feels in line with Wills's small-r republicanism that what he saw writing it seems to have had an influence on his break with the right. The horror of the anti-constitutional nature of the bomb in Bomb Power feels similar to his horror here at this "alien, armed place."