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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Jeff O'Neal and Rebecca Schinsky from BookRiot join me to talk about books, the different avenues a reading journey can take, their favorite "bridge books", and what they can't wait to read next!

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Timestamps:

1:04 - Can you become well read?

6:15 - How to assess books

17:04 - What is literary fiction?

23:09 - Side quests?

26:14 - What was the book that made you a reader?

31:30 - "Bridge Books"

34:17 - Reading as a muscle

36:04 - Tips for reading better

48:05 - "Finding" great authors

51:04 - The common books that get people into reading

55:01 - Cheat codes for finding new books that you're excited to read

1:00:00 - The books that Rebecca & Jeff want to read, but haven't

Don Hollway is back! This time, we're talking about Olaf Tryggvason and his new book: Hammer of the Gods.

Grab a copy of Don's book here

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Tony Vanderhoef is a Law student at Florida State and has also gained a following on Instagram, making short-form content in the political space. He approaches American politics from a constitutional perspective, and instead of trying to rally a base and divide, he aims to bridge the divide.

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Today I'm joined by Bob Crawford to talk about his new book, America's Founding Son; what he describes as a digestible history of John Quincy Adams. Adams is a fascinating historical character, and Bob and I talk about why he was a unique president, what made him polarizing, and how he "stood in the gap" in his own time.

Pre-order America's Founding Son here

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The practice of strategy today is a history-adjacent discipline, but it is one that history informs and one that shapes history. John Gaddis is one of the United States' foremost strategy thinkers, and he joins me on the show to talk about Venezuela, the war in Ukraine, how democracies and autocracies differ with regard to strategy, and much more.

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