Dr. J's American Passages: Recent Episodes
Fireside Poems
Each episode Dr. J selects a passage from American literature, reads it aloud, and discusses what the passage contributes to our understanding of what America and being an American mean.
What is America's attitude toward beauty? Is it something valuable for itself alone? Or does it require some other more moral vrtue? Or is it merely something to be shown off? Or something to be disapproved of? Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth asks us to consider this question.
Frederick Douglass tells of the first book he read, The columbian Orator. What we can learn about what books should be taught in schools and what books should be in libraries. The importance of books and the importance of libraries and librarians.
Should America be a land of religious liberty? or should it be the land of God's chosen people?
In America, one can discover within new faculties that elsewhere aren't known to exist.
J. Hector St. John de Crevecouer plces side by side American idealsand American slavery in pre-Revolutionary America.
Announcing the launch of two podcasts: "Dr. J's American Passages" and "Dr. J's Shakespeare"