Thanks, Phillip!

My book on how Americans have remembered and fought over the narrative and legacy of the American Revolution for nearly 250 years.

Here is the course I created that eventually became my most recent book. Might find some readings to use.

www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/que9o...

Totally concur.

And how does quality of life compare between red and blue states? Murder rate? Crime rates? Education ranking? Avg household income? Employment opportunities? Cultural institutions?

“YOUR inflation rate?!?!” People don’t have inflation rates. Economies do, like the one you’re in charge of.

Bleh. The history of how we choose to portray and remember the revolution is extremely important so I see its inclusion as relevant, but that's just IMO.

Speaking of... everyone should read @michaelhattem.bsky.social 's book, Memory of 76. #HATM

Definitely a low point in my career!!! 🤣

Email sent.

In writing my last book, I was struck by just how similar the rhetoric from Reagan and Obama about the nation and the founding was.

Yes, if you’re thinking as a historian. But he is a filmmaker who wants ppl to not only watch the doc, he wants them to buy the accompanying books, the DVDs, etc… it’s not good business to alienate half your audience - hence his milquetoast approach. His films are not PSAs, despite his rhetoric.

Because Reconstruction is a divisive topic for contemporary southern audiences. And by including it he would have to inevitably risk alienating that half of his potential audience. That so many of his choices in that doc and this one are rooted in that consideration is a defining feature of both.

And that is not unlike the northern/southern divide in audience for the CW doc. And he took a similar approach in that doc by focusing on the war itself and less on the ideas which would have been more alienating to half of his potential audience (i.e., the entire country).

I was thinking more the liberal/conservative divide. The latter has a very celebratory memory of the AmRev while the former has a more critical memory of the AmRev aimed at diversifying the narrative.

Just like with the CW doc, he has two sides he needs to appeal to. And the easiest way to walk that line is to focus more on the war and less on what it’s fought over.

Nothing and no one can be more objective than Ken Burns!! 🤣

Even better!!! 🤣