Victor Nuovo: George Washington set the example

Eleventh in a series. George Washington (1732–99) was not an intellectual. He did not attend college. He did not read books; he was not a great orator, and wrote nothing that might become a classic. As Joseph Ellis has written in his excellent biography, fittingly entitled “His Excellency”: “Benjamin Franklin was wiser; Alexander Hamilton was more brilliant; John Adams was better read; Thomas Jefferson was more intellectually sophisticated; James Madison was more politically astute,” yet they were unanimous … (read more)

Tenth in a series. There is a tale told about George Washington — I may have first heard it in school — that shortly after Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, when independence from Great Britain became all but certain, a group of officers of the Con … (read more)

Ninth in a series. James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) was an American writer who chronicled rural life from the Revolution through the first half of the 19th century. I am not a literary critic and would not pretend to evaluate the literary merit of his no … (read more)

Eighth in a series. Not long after he finished writing “The Republic” Plato, changed his mind — or so it seems. This happens often among philosophers, but when great philosophers like Plato change their minds, it is worth noticing. To put it briefly, in h … (read more)

Seventh in a series. This essay continues my Platonic digression on the theme of a moral universe. A moral universe is one in which Good is as basic to our existence as Heat and Energy. In a moral universe, Good is empowered to triumph over Evil, Truth ov … (read more)

Editor’s note: Sixth in a series. The previous essay concluded on a new note: the idea of a moral universe, and I have returned to Plato as my guide. Plato did not suppose that a moral universe is a world where everyone may expect rewards for their good d … (read more)

The title of this essay calls for an explanation. Four weeks ago, I began a series entitled “The Life of the Mind in America.” This essay, the fifth in the series, is about Plato. But what does Plato have to do with America? He was an Athenian who lived m … (read more)

It is regrettable that Jonathan Edwards (1703–58) is mostly remembered for a sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” As his biographer Perry Miller once remarked, that sermon “did more to damage his reputation than all of his critics combined.”  H … (read more)

Editor’s note: Third in a series. A variety of motives caused Europeans to hazard crossing the Atlantic Ocean to settle in America 300 years ago. For some, it was a desire for adventure, for others, riches.  Still others came for what they believed was a … (read more)

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series called “The Life of the Mind in America.”Perry Miller did not live to complete “The Life of the Mind in America.” Among the unwritten parts of his book was the introduction. From his manuscript notes, we know … (read more)

This essay begins a new series about American intellectual history. I have entitled it “The Life of the Mind in America,” which is the title of an unfinished work on American intellectual history by the late great Perry Miller (1905–63). But the expressio … (read more)