Books
Letter on the Civil Rights Movement
– Letter, Summer 1965, reprinted by WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Excerpt: In the summer of 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was being enacted, the editors of this volume, Amy Apfel Kass (b. 1940; then a high school history teacher in Lincoln-Sudbury,… More
Human Being and Citizen: Plato’s Apology of Socrates and the Humanities
– In Philippe Desan, ed., Engaging the Humanities at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL: The College of the University of Chicago, 1995), 39-42.What So Proudly We Hail, The American Soul In Story, Speech, And Song
– Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012.Summary: This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply—and appreciate more fully—who they are as citizens… More
2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters
– The 2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters, Hudson Institute, 11 May 2011.What does it mean to be an American? To what larger community and ideals are we attached and devoted? The editors of What So Proudly We Hail are joined by leading thinkers to consider these… More
“Why Memorial Day?” A Discussion and Book Forum on What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, May 20, 2011.American public life requires citizens who know who they are as Americans, who are knowledgeably attached to their country and communities, and who possess the character–the… More
Take Time to Remember
– Weekly Standard, May 29, 2011.Excerpt: American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our… More
What’s the Point of Flag Day?
– National Review Online, June 14, 2011.Excerpt: Flag Day is unusual. Commemorating the birthday of the American flag, adopted in the midst of the American Revolution by the Second Continental Congress, Flag Day is not an… More
What Silent Cal Said About the Fourth of July
– Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2011.Excerpt: Parades. Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. This is how many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July. In earlier times, the day was also marked with specially prepared orations… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention… More
And There’s Another Country
– Gilbert Meilaender, First Things, October 2011.Excerpt: It is both natural and right that human beings love the country that has nurtured them. God binds our hearts to particular places and people, and there are few things sadder than… More
The Significance of Veterans Day
– Weekly Standard, 14 November 2011.Excerpt: What exactly do we celebrate on Veterans Day? To be sure, we mean to honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have fought America’s battles, past and present. But… More
First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency
– CSPAN, February 17, 2012.To mark George Washington’s birthday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation’s first chief… More
Seminar on National Identity: “The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.It is probably no accident that Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a life-long American patriot. He was the nephew of Edward Everett, renowned orator and statesman. And his father, Nathan… More
Seminar on Freedom and Individuality: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Jack London, like the unnamed man described in the story “To Build a Fire,” lived on the edge. Born in 1876, he died a short forty years later. As a young man, he was a full-fledged… More
Seminar on Equality: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) was born and raised in Indianapolis and later left college to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spent time as a German prisoner of war and won a… More
Seminar on Enterprise and Commerce: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” by Mark Twain
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is well known as a humorist and satirist. But like many satirists, he had serious things in view. Writing in the latter part of the… More
Seminar on Freedom and Religion: “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts into an old, established New England family. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne,… More
Seminar on Self-Command: “The Project for Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.As the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was by custom and tradition destined to be a nobody. Yet thanks to his own resourcefulness,… More
Seminar on Law-Abidingness: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) was an award-winning playwright and novelist, a writer of short stories, and, for a short while, a journalist. This story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917),… More
Seminar on Courage and Self-Sacrifice: “Chamberlain” by Michael Shaara and Speech to the Third Army by George S. Patton
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Courage is a virtue difficult to cultivate, especially among self-interested citizens oriented toward the pursuit of their own happiness. At the extreme, why shouldn’t I prefer the… More
Seminar on Compassion: “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Herman Melville (1819-1891), today hailed as one of America’s greatest writers, had in his own time a very mixed career. Some of his early sea-stories and sea-adventures were esteemed by… More
Seminar on Making One Out of Many: “The Namesake,” by Willa Cather
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O!… More
Seminar on Veterans Day Speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis by John F. Kelly
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Many American citizens are public-spirited at one time or another, but a remarkable minority of our fellow citizens—our police, firefighters, and military men and women—have made… More
Seminar on George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.In this session, editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub use George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and O. Henry’s short story “Two Thanksgiving Day… More
Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, 20 December 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
– Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2013.Excerpt: “As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul,” Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute,… More
Lessons in Citizenship
– Naomi Schaefer Riley, Philanthropy magazine, Spring 2013.Excerpt: Another new civic-education curriculum for secondary-school students (actually, three separate curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was designed by former University of… More
Online Course on The Meaning of America
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation founded on individual rights, equality, enterprise and commerce, and freedom of religion? What virtues are required for a robust… More
Online course on The American Calendar
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Why do we have national public holidays? What does each—and what do all—contribute to our common life as Americans? The American Calendar explores the purpose and meaning of our civic… More
Online Discussion of the Gettysburg Address
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What is the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Is it a funeral oration, a victory speech, a policy pitch, or something more? Was Lincoln’s purpose to break with a tainted… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Video conversation, AEI Program on American Citizenship, in partnership with WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, 2015.Diana Schaub and Leon Kass discuss the Gettysburg Address.
Essays
Letter on the Civil Rights Movement
– Letter, Summer 1965, reprinted by WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Excerpt: In the summer of 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was being enacted, the editors of this volume, Amy Apfel Kass (b. 1940; then a high school history teacher in Lincoln-Sudbury,… More
Human Being and Citizen: Plato’s Apology of Socrates and the Humanities
– In Philippe Desan, ed., Engaging the Humanities at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL: The College of the University of Chicago, 1995), 39-42.What So Proudly We Hail, The American Soul In Story, Speech, And Song
– Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012.Summary: This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply—and appreciate more fully—who they are as citizens… More
2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters
– The 2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters, Hudson Institute, 11 May 2011.What does it mean to be an American? To what larger community and ideals are we attached and devoted? The editors of What So Proudly We Hail are joined by leading thinkers to consider these… More
“Why Memorial Day?” A Discussion and Book Forum on What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, May 20, 2011.American public life requires citizens who know who they are as Americans, who are knowledgeably attached to their country and communities, and who possess the character–the… More
Take Time to Remember
– Weekly Standard, May 29, 2011.Excerpt: American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our… More
What’s the Point of Flag Day?
– National Review Online, June 14, 2011.Excerpt: Flag Day is unusual. Commemorating the birthday of the American flag, adopted in the midst of the American Revolution by the Second Continental Congress, Flag Day is not an… More
What Silent Cal Said About the Fourth of July
– Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2011.Excerpt: Parades. Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. This is how many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July. In earlier times, the day was also marked with specially prepared orations… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention… More
And There’s Another Country
– Gilbert Meilaender, First Things, October 2011.Excerpt: It is both natural and right that human beings love the country that has nurtured them. God binds our hearts to particular places and people, and there are few things sadder than… More
The Significance of Veterans Day
– Weekly Standard, 14 November 2011.Excerpt: What exactly do we celebrate on Veterans Day? To be sure, we mean to honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have fought America’s battles, past and present. But… More
First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency
– CSPAN, February 17, 2012.To mark George Washington’s birthday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation’s first chief… More
Seminar on National Identity: “The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.It is probably no accident that Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a life-long American patriot. He was the nephew of Edward Everett, renowned orator and statesman. And his father, Nathan… More
Seminar on Freedom and Individuality: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Jack London, like the unnamed man described in the story “To Build a Fire,” lived on the edge. Born in 1876, he died a short forty years later. As a young man, he was a full-fledged… More
Seminar on Equality: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) was born and raised in Indianapolis and later left college to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spent time as a German prisoner of war and won a… More
Seminar on Enterprise and Commerce: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” by Mark Twain
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is well known as a humorist and satirist. But like many satirists, he had serious things in view. Writing in the latter part of the… More
Seminar on Freedom and Religion: “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts into an old, established New England family. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne,… More
Seminar on Self-Command: “The Project for Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.As the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was by custom and tradition destined to be a nobody. Yet thanks to his own resourcefulness,… More
Seminar on Law-Abidingness: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) was an award-winning playwright and novelist, a writer of short stories, and, for a short while, a journalist. This story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917),… More
Seminar on Courage and Self-Sacrifice: “Chamberlain” by Michael Shaara and Speech to the Third Army by George S. Patton
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Courage is a virtue difficult to cultivate, especially among self-interested citizens oriented toward the pursuit of their own happiness. At the extreme, why shouldn’t I prefer the… More
Seminar on Compassion: “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Herman Melville (1819-1891), today hailed as one of America’s greatest writers, had in his own time a very mixed career. Some of his early sea-stories and sea-adventures were esteemed by… More
Seminar on Making One Out of Many: “The Namesake,” by Willa Cather
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O!… More
Seminar on Veterans Day Speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis by John F. Kelly
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Many American citizens are public-spirited at one time or another, but a remarkable minority of our fellow citizens—our police, firefighters, and military men and women—have made… More
Seminar on George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.In this session, editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub use George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and O. Henry’s short story “Two Thanksgiving Day… More
Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, 20 December 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
– Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2013.Excerpt: “As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul,” Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute,… More
Lessons in Citizenship
– Naomi Schaefer Riley, Philanthropy magazine, Spring 2013.Excerpt: Another new civic-education curriculum for secondary-school students (actually, three separate curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was designed by former University of… More
Online Course on The Meaning of America
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation founded on individual rights, equality, enterprise and commerce, and freedom of religion? What virtues are required for a robust… More
Online course on The American Calendar
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Why do we have national public holidays? What does each—and what do all—contribute to our common life as Americans? The American Calendar explores the purpose and meaning of our civic… More
Online Discussion of the Gettysburg Address
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What is the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Is it a funeral oration, a victory speech, a policy pitch, or something more? Was Lincoln’s purpose to break with a tainted… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Video conversation, AEI Program on American Citizenship, in partnership with WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, 2015.Diana Schaub and Leon Kass discuss the Gettysburg Address.
Commentary
Letter on the Civil Rights Movement
– Letter, Summer 1965, reprinted by WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Excerpt: In the summer of 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was being enacted, the editors of this volume, Amy Apfel Kass (b. 1940; then a high school history teacher in Lincoln-Sudbury,… More
Human Being and Citizen: Plato’s Apology of Socrates and the Humanities
– In Philippe Desan, ed., Engaging the Humanities at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL: The College of the University of Chicago, 1995), 39-42.What So Proudly We Hail, The American Soul In Story, Speech, And Song
– Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012.Summary: This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply—and appreciate more fully—who they are as citizens… More
2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters
– The 2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters, Hudson Institute, 11 May 2011.What does it mean to be an American? To what larger community and ideals are we attached and devoted? The editors of What So Proudly We Hail are joined by leading thinkers to consider these… More
“Why Memorial Day?” A Discussion and Book Forum on What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, May 20, 2011.American public life requires citizens who know who they are as Americans, who are knowledgeably attached to their country and communities, and who possess the character–the… More
Take Time to Remember
– Weekly Standard, May 29, 2011.Excerpt: American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our… More
What’s the Point of Flag Day?
– National Review Online, June 14, 2011.Excerpt: Flag Day is unusual. Commemorating the birthday of the American flag, adopted in the midst of the American Revolution by the Second Continental Congress, Flag Day is not an… More
What Silent Cal Said About the Fourth of July
– Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2011.Excerpt: Parades. Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. This is how many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July. In earlier times, the day was also marked with specially prepared orations… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention… More
And There’s Another Country
– Gilbert Meilaender, First Things, October 2011.Excerpt: It is both natural and right that human beings love the country that has nurtured them. God binds our hearts to particular places and people, and there are few things sadder than… More
The Significance of Veterans Day
– Weekly Standard, 14 November 2011.Excerpt: What exactly do we celebrate on Veterans Day? To be sure, we mean to honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have fought America’s battles, past and present. But… More
First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency
– CSPAN, February 17, 2012.To mark George Washington’s birthday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation’s first chief… More
Seminar on National Identity: “The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.It is probably no accident that Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a life-long American patriot. He was the nephew of Edward Everett, renowned orator and statesman. And his father, Nathan… More
Seminar on Freedom and Individuality: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Jack London, like the unnamed man described in the story “To Build a Fire,” lived on the edge. Born in 1876, he died a short forty years later. As a young man, he was a full-fledged… More
Seminar on Equality: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) was born and raised in Indianapolis and later left college to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spent time as a German prisoner of war and won a… More
Seminar on Enterprise and Commerce: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” by Mark Twain
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is well known as a humorist and satirist. But like many satirists, he had serious things in view. Writing in the latter part of the… More
Seminar on Freedom and Religion: “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts into an old, established New England family. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne,… More
Seminar on Self-Command: “The Project for Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.As the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was by custom and tradition destined to be a nobody. Yet thanks to his own resourcefulness,… More
Seminar on Law-Abidingness: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) was an award-winning playwright and novelist, a writer of short stories, and, for a short while, a journalist. This story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917),… More
Seminar on Courage and Self-Sacrifice: “Chamberlain” by Michael Shaara and Speech to the Third Army by George S. Patton
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Courage is a virtue difficult to cultivate, especially among self-interested citizens oriented toward the pursuit of their own happiness. At the extreme, why shouldn’t I prefer the… More
Seminar on Compassion: “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Herman Melville (1819-1891), today hailed as one of America’s greatest writers, had in his own time a very mixed career. Some of his early sea-stories and sea-adventures were esteemed by… More
Seminar on Making One Out of Many: “The Namesake,” by Willa Cather
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O!… More
Seminar on Veterans Day Speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis by John F. Kelly
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Many American citizens are public-spirited at one time or another, but a remarkable minority of our fellow citizens—our police, firefighters, and military men and women—have made… More
Seminar on George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.In this session, editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub use George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and O. Henry’s short story “Two Thanksgiving Day… More
Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, 20 December 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
– Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2013.Excerpt: “As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul,” Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute,… More
Lessons in Citizenship
– Naomi Schaefer Riley, Philanthropy magazine, Spring 2013.Excerpt: Another new civic-education curriculum for secondary-school students (actually, three separate curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was designed by former University of… More
Online Course on The Meaning of America
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation founded on individual rights, equality, enterprise and commerce, and freedom of religion? What virtues are required for a robust… More
Online course on The American Calendar
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Why do we have national public holidays? What does each—and what do all—contribute to our common life as Americans? The American Calendar explores the purpose and meaning of our civic… More
Online Discussion of the Gettysburg Address
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What is the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Is it a funeral oration, a victory speech, a policy pitch, or something more? Was Lincoln’s purpose to break with a tainted… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Video conversation, AEI Program on American Citizenship, in partnership with WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, 2015.Diana Schaub and Leon Kass discuss the Gettysburg Address.
Multimedia
Letter on the Civil Rights Movement
– Letter, Summer 1965, reprinted by WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Excerpt: In the summer of 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was being enacted, the editors of this volume, Amy Apfel Kass (b. 1940; then a high school history teacher in Lincoln-Sudbury,… More
Human Being and Citizen: Plato’s Apology of Socrates and the Humanities
– In Philippe Desan, ed., Engaging the Humanities at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL: The College of the University of Chicago, 1995), 39-42.What So Proudly We Hail, The American Soul In Story, Speech, And Song
– Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012.Summary: This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply—and appreciate more fully—who they are as citizens… More
2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters
– The 2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters, Hudson Institute, 11 May 2011.What does it mean to be an American? To what larger community and ideals are we attached and devoted? The editors of What So Proudly We Hail are joined by leading thinkers to consider these… More
“Why Memorial Day?” A Discussion and Book Forum on What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, May 20, 2011.American public life requires citizens who know who they are as Americans, who are knowledgeably attached to their country and communities, and who possess the character–the… More
Take Time to Remember
– Weekly Standard, May 29, 2011.Excerpt: American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our… More
What’s the Point of Flag Day?
– National Review Online, June 14, 2011.Excerpt: Flag Day is unusual. Commemorating the birthday of the American flag, adopted in the midst of the American Revolution by the Second Continental Congress, Flag Day is not an… More
What Silent Cal Said About the Fourth of July
– Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2011.Excerpt: Parades. Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. This is how many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July. In earlier times, the day was also marked with specially prepared orations… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention… More
And There’s Another Country
– Gilbert Meilaender, First Things, October 2011.Excerpt: It is both natural and right that human beings love the country that has nurtured them. God binds our hearts to particular places and people, and there are few things sadder than… More
The Significance of Veterans Day
– Weekly Standard, 14 November 2011.Excerpt: What exactly do we celebrate on Veterans Day? To be sure, we mean to honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have fought America’s battles, past and present. But… More
First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency
– CSPAN, February 17, 2012.To mark George Washington’s birthday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation’s first chief… More
Seminar on National Identity: “The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.It is probably no accident that Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a life-long American patriot. He was the nephew of Edward Everett, renowned orator and statesman. And his father, Nathan… More
Seminar on Freedom and Individuality: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Jack London, like the unnamed man described in the story “To Build a Fire,” lived on the edge. Born in 1876, he died a short forty years later. As a young man, he was a full-fledged… More
Seminar on Equality: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) was born and raised in Indianapolis and later left college to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spent time as a German prisoner of war and won a… More
Seminar on Enterprise and Commerce: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” by Mark Twain
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is well known as a humorist and satirist. But like many satirists, he had serious things in view. Writing in the latter part of the… More
Seminar on Freedom and Religion: “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts into an old, established New England family. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne,… More
Seminar on Self-Command: “The Project for Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.As the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was by custom and tradition destined to be a nobody. Yet thanks to his own resourcefulness,… More
Seminar on Law-Abidingness: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) was an award-winning playwright and novelist, a writer of short stories, and, for a short while, a journalist. This story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917),… More
Seminar on Courage and Self-Sacrifice: “Chamberlain” by Michael Shaara and Speech to the Third Army by George S. Patton
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Courage is a virtue difficult to cultivate, especially among self-interested citizens oriented toward the pursuit of their own happiness. At the extreme, why shouldn’t I prefer the… More
Seminar on Compassion: “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Herman Melville (1819-1891), today hailed as one of America’s greatest writers, had in his own time a very mixed career. Some of his early sea-stories and sea-adventures were esteemed by… More
Seminar on Making One Out of Many: “The Namesake,” by Willa Cather
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O!… More
Seminar on Veterans Day Speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis by John F. Kelly
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Many American citizens are public-spirited at one time or another, but a remarkable minority of our fellow citizens—our police, firefighters, and military men and women—have made… More
Seminar on George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.In this session, editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub use George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and O. Henry’s short story “Two Thanksgiving Day… More
Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, 20 December 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
– Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2013.Excerpt: “As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul,” Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute,… More
Lessons in Citizenship
– Naomi Schaefer Riley, Philanthropy magazine, Spring 2013.Excerpt: Another new civic-education curriculum for secondary-school students (actually, three separate curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was designed by former University of… More
Online Course on The Meaning of America
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation founded on individual rights, equality, enterprise and commerce, and freedom of religion? What virtues are required for a robust… More
Online course on The American Calendar
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Why do we have national public holidays? What does each—and what do all—contribute to our common life as Americans? The American Calendar explores the purpose and meaning of our civic… More
Online Discussion of the Gettysburg Address
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What is the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Is it a funeral oration, a victory speech, a policy pitch, or something more? Was Lincoln’s purpose to break with a tainted… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Video conversation, AEI Program on American Citizenship, in partnership with WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, 2015.Diana Schaub and Leon Kass discuss the Gettysburg Address.
Teaching
Letter on the Civil Rights Movement
– Letter, Summer 1965, reprinted by WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Excerpt: In the summer of 1965, while the Voting Rights Act was being enacted, the editors of this volume, Amy Apfel Kass (b. 1940; then a high school history teacher in Lincoln-Sudbury,… More
Human Being and Citizen: Plato’s Apology of Socrates and the Humanities
– In Philippe Desan, ed., Engaging the Humanities at the University of Chicago (Chicago, IL: The College of the University of Chicago, 1995), 39-42.What So Proudly We Hail, The American Soul In Story, Speech, And Song
– Intercollegiate Studies Institute, 2012.Summary: This wonderfully rich anthology uses the soul-shaping power of story, speech, and song to help Americans realize more deeply—and appreciate more fully—who they are as citizens… More
2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters
– The 2011 Bradley Symposium: True Americanism: What It Is and Why It Matters, Hudson Institute, 11 May 2011.What does it mean to be an American? To what larger community and ideals are we attached and devoted? The editors of What So Proudly We Hail are joined by leading thinkers to consider these… More
“Why Memorial Day?” A Discussion and Book Forum on What So Proudly We Hail: The American Soul in Story, Speech, and Song
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, May 20, 2011.American public life requires citizens who know who they are as Americans, who are knowledgeably attached to their country and communities, and who possess the character–the… More
Take Time to Remember
– Weekly Standard, May 29, 2011.Excerpt: American identity, character, and civic life are shaped by many things, but decisive among them are our national memories—of our long history, our triumphs and tragedies, our… More
What’s the Point of Flag Day?
– National Review Online, June 14, 2011.Excerpt: Flag Day is unusual. Commemorating the birthday of the American flag, adopted in the midst of the American Revolution by the Second Continental Congress, Flag Day is not an… More
What Silent Cal Said About the Fourth of July
– Wall Street Journal, 1 July 2011.Excerpt: Parades. Backyard barbecues. Fireworks. This is how many of us will celebrate the Fourth of July. In earlier times, the day was also marked with specially prepared orations… More
Walter Berns and the Constitution: A Celebration of the Constitution, with Opening Remarks by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
– Panel hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, September 20, 2011.In mid-September 2011, as part of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship, we celebrated Constitution Day (September 17), the day thirty-nine members of the Constitutional Convention… More
And There’s Another Country
– Gilbert Meilaender, First Things, October 2011.Excerpt: It is both natural and right that human beings love the country that has nurtured them. God binds our hearts to particular places and people, and there are few things sadder than… More
The Significance of Veterans Day
– Weekly Standard, 14 November 2011.Excerpt: What exactly do we celebrate on Veterans Day? To be sure, we mean to honor the brave men and women, living and dead, who have fought America’s battles, past and present. But… More
First Among Equals: George Washington and the American Presidency
– CSPAN, February 17, 2012.To mark George Washington’s birthday, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a gathering of political thinkers to consider the presidency and legacy of our nation’s first chief… More
Seminar on National Identity: “The Man without a Country” by Edward Everett Hale
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.It is probably no accident that Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was a life-long American patriot. He was the nephew of Edward Everett, renowned orator and statesman. And his father, Nathan… More
Seminar on Freedom and Individuality: “To Build a Fire” by Jack London
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Jack London, like the unnamed man described in the story “To Build a Fire,” lived on the edge. Born in 1876, he died a short forty years later. As a young man, he was a full-fledged… More
Seminar on Equality: “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1922-2007) was born and raised in Indianapolis and later left college to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II. He spent time as a German prisoner of war and won a… More
Seminar on Enterprise and Commerce: “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” by Mark Twain
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Mark Twain (born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910) is well known as a humorist and satirist. But like many satirists, he had serious things in view. Writing in the latter part of the… More
Seminar on Freedom and Religion: “The May-Pole of Merry Mount” by Nathaniel Hawthorne
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), novelist and short story writer, was born in Salem, Massachusetts into an old, established New England family. His great-great-grandfather, John Hathorne,… More
Seminar on Self-Command: “The Project for Moral Perfection” by Benjamin Franklin
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.As the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back, Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was by custom and tradition destined to be a nobody. Yet thanks to his own resourcefulness,… More
Seminar on Law-Abidingness: “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Susan Glaspell (1876–1948) was an award-winning playwright and novelist, a writer of short stories, and, for a short while, a journalist. This story, “A Jury of Her Peers” (1917),… More
Seminar on Courage and Self-Sacrifice: “Chamberlain” by Michael Shaara and Speech to the Third Army by George S. Patton
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Courage is a virtue difficult to cultivate, especially among self-interested citizens oriented toward the pursuit of their own happiness. At the extreme, why shouldn’t I prefer the… More
Seminar on Compassion: “Bartleby, the Scrivener” by Herman Melville”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Herman Melville (1819-1891), today hailed as one of America’s greatest writers, had in his own time a very mixed career. Some of his early sea-stories and sea-adventures were esteemed by… More
Seminar on Making One Out of Many: “The Namesake,” by Willa Cather
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), one of America’s most beloved authors, is best known for her novels depicting the lives of people who settled the American heartland and the Southwest: O!… More
Seminar on Veterans Day Speech to the Semper Fi Society of St. Louis by John F. Kelly
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Many American citizens are public-spirited at one time or another, but a remarkable minority of our fellow citizens—our police, firefighters, and military men and women—have made… More
Seminar on George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation and O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Day Gentlemen”
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.In this session, editors Amy A. Kass, Leon R. Kass, and Diana Schaub use George Washington’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation and O. Henry’s short story “Two Thanksgiving Day… More
Leon Kass and Walter Berns discuss Spielberg’s “Lincoln”
– Discussion with Walter Berns and Leon Kass, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, 20 December 2012.At a discussion hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, What So Proudly We Hail editor Leon R. Kass and Walter Berns (professor emeritus, Georgetown University) discussed Steven… More
The Meaning of the Gosnell Trial
– Sohrab Ahmari, Wall Street Journal, April 13, 2013.Excerpt: “As pain is to the body so repugnance is to the soul,” Dr. Kass says as we sit down for an interview in his book-lined office at the American Enterprise Institute,… More
Lessons in Citizenship
– Naomi Schaefer Riley, Philanthropy magazine, Spring 2013.Excerpt: Another new civic-education curriculum for secondary-school students (actually, three separate curricula) is What So Proudly We Hail. It was designed by former University of… More
Online Course on The Meaning of America
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What kind of citizens are likely to emerge in a nation founded on individual rights, equality, enterprise and commerce, and freedom of religion? What virtues are required for a robust… More
Online course on The American Calendar
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.Why do we have national public holidays? What does each—and what do all—contribute to our common life as Americans? The American Calendar explores the purpose and meaning of our civic… More
Online Discussion of the Gettysburg Address
– WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org.What is the significance of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address? Is it a funeral oration, a victory speech, a policy pitch, or something more? Was Lincoln’s purpose to break with a tainted… More
Lincoln at Gettysburg
– Video conversation, AEI Program on American Citizenship, in partnership with WhatSoProudlyWeHail.org, 2015.Diana Schaub and Leon Kass discuss the Gettysburg Address.