…with the 4th of July holiday upon us, it would seem like a good long weekend to spend reading and thinking about the American experience. Thinking about what it means to be American. Years ago I taught English in Maine and up there in Bangor I had a colleague who, unhappy with his son’s high school education, was designing an American Lit course for him. He’d tell me about what he was weighing and considering for his boy’s reading at lunch, and while I don’t remember a lot about this reading list I do remember it was going to start with the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and conclude with the Autobiography of Malcolm X. Remembering this just the other day I thought these two books would work nicely by themselves as the basis for American thinking…
…whether the young man ever did the reading, I have no idea. Happy July 4th from Odyssey Online and there will be more books to consider next week!