This show will be the first in a series broken out into a different podcast feed. I'm calling it American Footnote. American Footnote is a natural extension of the reading and history work already happening here. You start by reading about the people who lived through a certain moment. Eventually, you start reading about the ideas that created that moment. Before long, you find yourself using both to understand the present better.

Here's the first episode, The Propositions:

So much of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence will be about Trump and Trumpism. Discourse will seethe with it, probably noting how poorly the 47th president reflected on the meaning of the Declaration for the men who signed it, and what it means for us today.

While Josh might not be qualified to give his two cents, he tries anyway. To him, this is a romantic moment that offers a chance to return to the spiritual bedrock elements of the American Founding: the propositions.

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Chris is here to convince you of two things: Larry McMurtry wrote a lot of great books besides Lonesome Dove, and the 5-star rating phenomenon is a mess.

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Denis Johnson has quickly become one of my favorite authors. Train Dreams blew me away, then I read Angels with you all, and I finished Jesus’ Son about a week ago. I’m nearly done with Tree of Smoke as I post this, too. I knew I wanted to do an episode on Denis Johnson’s career, so there was only one guy to call: Ted Geltner.

His biography of Denis Johnson is Flagrant, Self-Destructive Gestures (published last year).

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