This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years, and now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. I turned off news altogether.
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. and BC News reporting for America. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party tickets now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA. What's up, y'all? Summer's got a different tempo.
Everything's a little looser, brighter. One plan turns into another. You hear something, you stay a little longer.
Next thing you know, you're somewhere you didn't plan to be. It's those in-between moments. That's where the ideas hit. conversations stretch out, little memories sneak up on you.
Sometimes it's just about what's in your hand. that color. That chill, the new tropical butterfly refresher from Starbucks. guava and passion fruit flavors with ango pineapple flavored pearls. Yeah.
That feels like summer before you even taste it. Funny how one small stop becomes the best part of the day. Start your summer rhythm. with Starbucks. Try the new Tropical Butterfly Refresher from Starbucks.
Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen. She starts dating Howard Hughes.
And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
So she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius. Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5.
Goodbye. Um This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Up next, another installment of our series about us. The Story of America series with Hillsdale College Professor and author of the terrific book. Land of Hope.
Professor Bill McClay. For much of our early existence our culture was derivative of our mother country, Britain and of course Europe. To many creatives, it was becoming clear that we needed a second revolution, not with guns and bullets. But with words, let's get into the story. Take it away, Bill.
As Americans went about the business of building new political institutions, Radical new political institutions. The question remained, what would American culture look like? Was there a culture of democracy? What would it look like? Could Americans on native grounds.
replicate the artistic genius. Of America's European competitors? Could we produce a Shakespeare of our own, a Michelangelo, a Voltaire, a Mozart? Would it be something that reflected the new nation's people, its land? Would it be of the highest caliber, or would it be?
Medio. Many critics Like the British literary critic Sidney Smith. We're skeptical. Smith, in an essay in the Edinburgh Review, put forward this rhetorical question. series of questions.
In the four corners of the globe, who reads an American book? or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture. Or statue.
Well, he wasn't entirely wrong about that. Not many did. The early part of the nineteenth century saw the gradual formation of what could be called A cadre of distinctly American writers, but there were not many of them. James Fettimore Cooper. His writing about the frontier, his invention of marvelous characters like.
the half white, half Indian, Natty Bumpo. And there was Edgar Allan Poe. whose strange, brooding, psychological tales. were far ahead of their time. There was also Washington Irving.
Who penned popular fables like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle? These were popular both at home and abroad, but up until really the eighteen fifties. it would be safe to say then America was not exactly a beacon of culture or literary talent. No, no, no, no. This began to change in the 1830s, and the change.
came from Europe. Thanks to the romantic movement. The Romantic movement was a. an artistic movement. Born out of rebellion.
Rebellion. Against the Enlightenment? A rebellion against the Industrial Revolution in its extreme manifestations. It emphasized the individual. Nature Creativity and imagination Fantasy.
and mystery. More emphasis, in short, on the emotional and intuitive. aspects of life. Of love and loss. and the fate of the soul.
Yeah. This turning point in America's cultural life happened. in a specific time and place. one small town just outside Boston, called Concord, Massachusetts. Individuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau.
Nathaniel Hawthorne. and others all were living there at one time or another, and all were buried there. On uh Authors Ridge. in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. What was it that drew these writers together?
It was a patchwork of ideas.
some of which fell under the name Transcendentalism, but the glories and mysteries of nature serving as a backdrop. and some of it coming simply From the enormous and unsearched potential of America. Americans, it turned out, were prepared at this moment of history to challenge and reconsider almost every aspect of their lives. and not always in a careless or nihilistic way, but usually in a hopeful and expansive way. Transcendentalism.
was not interested in the way things were done in the past. The established social elites of the day And let's be clear, Transcendentalism was born out of frustration with the religion of the dominant religion of the time in New England among elite classes, and that was Unitarianism. Unitarianism, which itself was a product, of a sort of liberal rebellion against Calvinism. Emerson himself, Ralph Waldo Emerson. was the product.
Of a family filled with ministers, including his own father, and as was Emerson following in his father's footsteps. And he followed and followed until he no longer could. and as a relatively young man he resigned his post, at a leading Boston church. And Loud. The ministry.
Without any Substantive Plans for the future. None but to become a writer and speaker. I would say that Emerson could be considered the first example. Of a freelance intellectual in American history. That is a freelance in the sense that he had no connection to.
Any institution's academic. Or ecclesiastical. He was a free. Intellectual and he made his living addressing the general public. Which is something it was possible to do in those days because Books and other printed publications were widely available.
Americans were very literate people, they liked to read. and they like gathering for lectures on subjects of interest. Every town had a lyceum. And needed a steady stream of lecturers to fill out their schedule. And so Ralph Waldo Emerson became.
A an itinerant speaker spent much of his life. the road. When we come back, More of the remarkable story. of us. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories.
And all of our history stories are brought to us by our generous sponsors, including Hillsdale College, where students go to learn all the things that are beautiful in life. and all the things that matter in life. If you can't get to Hillsdale, Hillsdale will come to you with their free and terrific online courses. Go to hillsdale.edu. That's hillsdale.edu.
Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint. It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage.
Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250. America's Block Party is a Camp Miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Black Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org slash LA. I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything.
Wow. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we can calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting.
Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year. I've been scouting these big carriers for a minute now, and I've seen them pull the same play a thousand times.
They promise you the world, then hit you with a price hike right when the game gets tight. But Boost Mobile, their $25 a month unlimited wireless plan, is the most consistent player on the floor. No contracts and no price hikes. Unlock the savings today at boostmobile.com/slash unlock. Based on average annual single-line payment of ATT Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months of the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless Plan as of January 2026.
For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story? Take a listen.
Hetty, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right. She says he's a, quote, very strange man.
Oh. But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do.
get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. And we continue with our American stories and our Story of America series with Hillsdale College Professor and author of Land of Hope. Bill McClay.
When we left off, Bill was telling us about Ralph Waldo Emerson. A former Unitarian pastor who became America's first independent traveling intellectual. Let's return to the story here again in the is Professor McClay. Emerson's career-altering moment occurred with an address he gave at Harvard in 1837.
Now, Emerson was himself a product of Harvard. He'd gotten his Education at Harvard College, which was a seminary in those days, and at the Harvard Divinity School. And he was invited to give the Phi Beta Kampa speech. at the beginning of the academic year. Because he was a distinguished Graduate.
Little did those who invited him know that he was going to. Pour out. Not quite contempt. But certainly criticism. of everything that Harvard and Harvard Divinity School stood for.
His speech challenged the the rationalism, the dry rationalism. of Harvard. and its academicism. The speech was a rallying cry. For creative types, for thinkers and artists who worked outside the box, who really were interested.
in forging and a cultural independence. and originality, something that was distinctly American.
So, for anyone who was listening and interested in cutting through. the old establishment orthodoxies and the imitative Streak in American culture. That is the desire to be just like the English, only American. This speech was a call to action. And here's how Emerson ended the speech at Harvard.
Mr. President and Gentlemen, this confidence in the unsearched might of man. Belongs by all motives, by all prophecy, by all preparation to the American scholar. We have listened too long to the courtly muses of Europe. The spirit of the American free man.
It's already suspected to be timid, imitative, and tame. No, not so, brothers and friends. Please God, ours shall not be so. We will walk on our own feet. We will work with our own hands.
We will speak. with our own minds. a nation of men will for the first time exist. Because each believed himself inspired by the divine soul. which also inspires all men.
Wow. A nation of men will for the first time exist because. A nation will exist that has absorbed these. Notions with the The other search to might of man, of the enormous and really infinite potential. in each individual.
And notice how he connects that. Two. being imitative. He says, we have listened too long. to the courtly muses of Europe.
Courtley muses. That implies, first of all, the court of a king. We're not that kind of place, we're a republic.
So we don't need courtly Muses. The courtly muses also, they're genteel, they're nice, they're refined, they're oh so careful. And we've listened too long to that kind of thing. We need to break out. And Speak with our own voice.
work with our own hands, walk on our own feet.
So, for many, this speech then and now, and in the years in between, has been. seen as America's declaration of intellectual independence. To follow on from the declaration, a political independence. in seventeen seventy six. And Emerson viewed the American Revolution as a great Great event, a beacon of hope for all of humanity.
He admired. the farmers, tradesmen and shopkeepers, the common people, who fought for American independence. His patriotic poem Conquered Him contains the most well-known verses he'd ever write. And he believed these words with every fibre of his being. By the rude bridge that arched the flood, their flag to April's breeze unfurled.
Here once the embattled farmers stood. and fired the shot. heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept, Alike the conqueror silently sleeps. And time the ruined bridge has swept down the dark stream which seaward creeps.
on this green bank. By this soft stream, We set to day a votive stamp, That memory may their deed redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone. Spirit that made those heroes dare to die and leave their children free. Bid time and nature gently spare, The shaft. We raise to them.
And the Emerson was calling for us Americans. to follow our own mews rather than Europe's. Because we were worthy. We had our own stories to tell, and we had our own ways of telling them. He was calling for Americans to develop.
and discover. Their own voices, their own art and culture, their own form of worship. all befitting a vast and bold new nation. Emerson also believed the same principle should apply to the individual lives of Americans as well. His essay Self-Reliance drove that point home.
Here's an excerpt from that essay.
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.
Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder. to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue at most request is conformity Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs. Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist.
He who would gather immortal palms must not be hindered by the name of goodness. That must explore if it be goodness. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind. I am ashamed to think how easily we capitulate to badges and names, to large societies and dead institutions. Every decent and well spoken individual affects and sways me more than is right.
I ought to go upright and vital and speak the rude truth in all ways. Yeah. These are words that are just as useful, just as applicable, just as transgressive, just as threatening. Today to entrenched establishments as they were in the 1830s. Here's one last passage of Emerson that reflects his fierce dedication to the sanctity of the individual person.
Above all, You may not like what he's saying, or you may like it a lot. But it is an American voice. above all else. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds. adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.
With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. he may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words. And tomorrow, speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words. Again.
though it contradict everything you said to day. Ah, so sh you shall be sure to be misunderstood.
Well, is it so bad then to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates and Jesus and Luther and Copernicus and Galileo and Newton and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. to be great. is to be misunderstood. To be great is to be misunderstood.
What Everson was after Was it an abandonment of the refined elite culture of Europe transplanted Yeah. A rather dead way to America, at least to the northeastern part of America, and a celebration of the common people. of his kind. The story of America, the story of us, brought to us by Bill McClay. The story continues here.
On our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a can't miss Fourth of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th the largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Block Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org slash LA. I turned off news altogether.
I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. Yeah. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people. If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little.
NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America. Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year.
I've been scouting these big carriers for a minute now, and I've seen them pull the same play a thousand times. They promise you the world, then hit you with a price hike right when the game gets tight. But Boost Mobile, their $25 a month unlimited wireless plan, is the most consistent player on the floor. No contracts and no price hikes. Unlock the savings today at boostmobile.com/slash unlock.
Based on the average annual single-line payment of ATT varies in T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless Plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedi Lamar. Want the full story?
Take a listen. Heddy, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right.
She says he's a, quote, very strange man. But they do get along really well. Give us examples. I know. They do.
get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedi Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. And we return to our American stories in our Story of America series with Hillsdale College professor and author of Land of Hope. Bill McClay.
When we last left off, Bill was telling us about the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. who wanted a more real and more emotional form of art than that found in Europe.
something we Americans could call our own. This influenced many other authors and creative types. Let's get back to the story. Emerson would go on to influence others in his orbit, including a neighbor named Henry David Thoreau. who tried his best to put some of Emerson's ideas into practice.
The result was a two year stint living alone in a cabin on Walden Pond. where he spent his time writing and reflecting on nature and his surroundings. From that time, alone in the woods, sprang one of the great pieces of American literature. Walden. The book was the first of its kind anywhere.
Part Spiritual Journey part nature reporting. part social critique. and part first person adventure Storytelling. Here's how Thoreau explained the decision to take up such a challenge. Again, in very American words.
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. to front only the essential facts of life. and see if I could not learn what it had to teach and not. When I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life.
Living is so dear. Nor did I wish to practice resignation unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck all the marrow out of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout. All that was not life. To cut a broad suave and shave close to drive life into a corner.
and reduce it. to its lowest term. Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake. Are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life. that its finer fruits cannot be fucked by them.
Their fingers from excessive toil are too clumsy and tremble too much for that. Actually, the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day. He cannot afford to sustain the manliest relations to men. His labor would be depreciated in the market. He has no time to be anything but a machine.
How can he remember well his ignorance? which his growth requires, who has so often to use his knowledge. We should feed and clothe him gratuitously sometimes, and recruit him with our cordials before we judge of him. The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom and the fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly. Here is how Thoreau describes the relationship between government and the individual.
The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward make true respect. For the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further?
towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man. There will never be a really free and enlightened state until the state comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly. I please myself with imagining a state at last which can afford to be just to all men. and to treat the individual with respect. as a neighbor.
which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose. if a few were to live aloof from it. Not meddling with it. Nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow men. A state which bore this kind of fruit.
and suffered it to drop off as fast as it might. would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious state. which also I have imagined. but not yet anywhere seen. Uh Another Great American writer.
of this period. was Nathaniel Hawthorne. Who also Did Diamond Concord. He was born in Salem and very influenced by Salem, by the Salem witchcraft trials, in which one of his ancestors participated. but ended up spending time in Concord.
As well. He had been influenced. In college, he'd gone to college at Bowdoin College in Maine, still there, still thriving college. The commencement address at Bowdoin, this is still true today, is given by a student. and the student who gave the commencement address.
Uh, at Bowdoin, which influenced Hawthorne so greatly, was Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Who went on to become arguably the leading poet of nineteenth century America? Um And the talk was a passionate. Urging. of Americans to Find and discover their own voice.
The talk was called Our Native Writers. And it fired. Hawthorne's imagination. that he as a writer. Could achieve exactly the goals that Longfellow was talking about.
in his remarks. And after a long period of seclusion and writing short stories that bear the distinctive mark of Hawthorne. Very mysterious. uncanny often weird stories. He wrote the first great American novel.
The scar of it. Hawthorne's work, however, was in some respects a rebuke of his conquered. allies and peers and friends. It was a rebuke of the unfettered optimism. That suffused their work, and you could hear it in the passages from Emerson.
and Thoreau. that we've read. Instead Hawthorne went back, into the distant past of the wind. His early works explored the sins of New England's past sins against Indians and Quakers. and others.
In the scarlet letter. He condemns The community's cruel even sinful treatment. of adultery. It is novel Blythedale Romance. He turned his acid pen Toward puncturing utopian delusions of communal living experiments happening around him.
one of which he participated in, the Brook Farm experiment. These utopian communities were one of the other expressions of this boundless. American optimism. His literary output, Hawthorne's literary output. was a sharp critique of that culture.
of the intellectual and spiritual fashions of the day, And you've been listening to Hillsdale College Professor Bill McClay tell the story of the Declaration of Cultural and Artistic Independence in America from the old country, from Britain, Great Britain, and France and Europe. We heard the story of Emerson and how he influenced Thoreau. and Walden, the masterpiece of Thoreau's. Hawthorne and his rebuttal, in a sense, to the optimism, the unbridled enthusiasm. of Walden and Emerson, and his masterpiece, The Scarlet Letter America's first great American novel.
when we come back more of the remarkable story of America's independence from Europe on the artistic front, America's search for its own voice, Here on our American stories. Liberty has never been just a word to we Americans. It has guided every one of our endeavors for the past 250 years. And now it takes form in a new way. The 2026 Semi-Quincentennial Coin and Metal Program from the United States Mint.
It celebrates the founding ideals that have long shaped our coinage. Available one year only, this historic collection features new coin designs, limited edition releases, and reissues. Shop new official coins at usmint.gov forward slash semi-q. That's usmint.gov/slash S-E-M-I-Q. This July 4th, come celebrate at America's Block Party, hosted by America 250.
America's Block Party is a camp miss 4th of July concert happening at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Experience music performances by major artists, patriotic tributes, and the kickoff to Giving Forth, helping to make July 4th. The largest day of giving in American history. It's more than just fireworks. Join this landmark celebration and get your America's Black Party Tickets Now for $17.76 at America250.org/slash LA.
I turned off news altogether. I hate to say it, but I don't trust much of anything. Right. It's the rage bait. It feels like it's trying to divide people.
If we got clear facts, maybe we could calm down a little. NBC News brings you clear reporting. Let's meet at the facts. Let's move forward from there. NBC News reporting for America.
And you're locked into a lot of things you can't change. Weather, traffic. Hey, stay in your lane. Your wireless carrier's latest price hike. But you can unlock a better way.
Unlock the savings at Boost Mobile and save up to $600 a year. Switch to the $25 a month unlimited wireless plan. No contracts, no price hikes, and you keep your phone. Stop being locked into their games. Unlock the savings at boostmobile.com/slash unlock.
Based on average annual single line of payment of ATT Verizon and T-Mobile customers compared to 12 months on the Boost Mobile Unlimited Wireless Plan as of January 2026. For full offer details, visit boostmobile.com. Hi, it's Karen in Georgia from My Favorite Murder. We cruised around LA in the Hyundai Ionic 5 and dove into the fascinating life of actress and inventor Hedy Lamar. Want the full story?
Take a listen. Hetty, she starts dating Howard Hughes, the aviation tycoon. Do you know a lot about him? I mean, I watch The Aviator, so I know everything Leonardo DiCaprio has allowed me to know about him, but incredible innovator. Right.
She says he's a, quote, very strange man. Oh. But they do get along really well. Give us exams they know. They do.
get along intellectually. And in fact, she helps him design a faster plane.
She takes a look at what he's designed. It's got these square wings, and she's like, that doesn't make sense. And so she finds the fastest bird and the fastest fish and sketches out a drawing of like what the two would look like as a plane. And that becomes the plane that we know today. And he calls her a genius.
Check out our new episode, Spotlighting Groundbreaking Innovators like Hedy Lamar and Billie Jean King. Presented by the Hyundai Ionic 5. Goodbye. And we return to Our American Stories in the Story of America series with Professor Bill McClay of Hillsdale College. Let's return to the story.
Uh Another literary giant of the time, Herman Melville, was born 200 miles south of Concord in New York City. But he was greatly influenced by Hawthorne. The two men met in eighteen fifty. Hawthorne at that time was forty six years old and a celebrity, soon to be an international celebrity. And Melville, whose debut novel Type had already become a literary star in his twenties, and now is thirty two years old.
Melville wrote these words to describe the impact that Hawthorne's presence. his physical presence had on his life. Stars move. I am posterity speaking by proxy when I declare that the American who, up to the present day, has evinced in literature the largest brain with the largest heart, that man. is Nathaniel Pawson.
Melville would also say this about Hawthorne's standing among the literary giants of the world. In this world of lies, truth is forced to fly like a scared white doe in the woodlands. and only by cunning glimpses will she reveal herself. as in Shakespeare and other masters of the great art of telling the truth. even though it be covertly and by snatches.
Mm. Yeah. One year after meeting the man he so much admired, Melville would dedicate his masterpiece, Moby Dick. to Hawthorne. The epic story of Captain Ahab's quest to seek revenge against the giant white sperm whale that bit off his leg.
was unlike any American novel in its scope. breadth and depth. and it was based in part on Melville's experiences at sea. A whale ship was my Yale College and my Harvard. He famously quipped through his altered ego Ishmael.
It was not an ordinary education he received on the high seas as a young man. Melville experienced the true extremes of human existence. Having once been captured by cannibals, once participated in a mutiny, and sometimes would even arrive home with some treasures for his troubles. With Moby Dick, he didn't want the book to be a mere action or adventure story. He wanted it to be a metaphysical exploration.
Everything was on the table. most of all God Himself. But it appears that Melville's fans wanted more of his superficial seafaring accounts. rather than metaphysical. Explorations.
And Moby Dick would become a commercial Flop. Only to be discovered by scholars nearly seventy-five years later. That's right. Melville's epic novel Which most people see as one of the top three, five American novels, many people would say the single greatest American novel. Yeah.
It was in its own time an epic failure. but it also became a great example of American literature. a fact for which Melville had, among others, Hawthorne to thank. Like Melville, Walt Whitman was born in New York City and was a man of the city. He admired the city, admired its bustling crowds, the rugged peaks and canyons and contours of its skyline.
More than any writer of his time, Whitman reflected the spirit of the age of Andrew Jackson. He was in that sense a populist writer, if there ever was one. Whitman w was a great admirer of Emerson. And served as an editor for newspapers in Brooklyn and New Orleans. And then virtually out of nowhere, Popped leaves of grass the first edition of his book of poems published in eighteen fifty five.
Melville sent it to his literary hero, and Emerson responded with a letter of his own. Dear sir. I am not blind to the worth of the wonderful gift of leaves of grass. I find it the most extraordinary piece of wit and wisdom that America has yet contributed to. I'm very happy in reading it, as great power makes us happy.
It meets the demand I am always making of what seemed a sterile and stingy nature, as if too much handiwork. Too much lymph in the temperament. We're making our Western wits fat and mean. I give you joy of your free and brave thought. I have great joy in it.
I find incomparable things said incomparably well. as they must be. I find courage in your treatment which so delights us. and which large perception only can inspire. I greet you at the beginning of a career.
which yet must have had a long or ground somewhere. For such a start. I rubbed my eyes a little to see if this sunbeam were no illusion, but the solid sense of the book is a sober certainty. It has the best merits. namely a fortifying and encouraging.
I did not know until I last night saw the book advertised in a newspaper. I could trust the name as real and available for a post office. I wish to see my benefactor and have felt much like striking my task and visiting New York. to pay you my respects. R.W.
Emerson. Can you imagine getting a letter like that from him? A legend. in your own line of work. What a beautiful thing to say I give you joy of your free and brave thought.
I have great joy in it. What a beautiful thing to say. to an aspiring, struggling author. To leave the grass was a sensation, and Whitman became the poet laureate of the common man. Indeed, on the cover of the book was Whitman himself dressed in common worker clothing, a t-shirt.
his hat seated with his head Crooked Writing in free unrhymed verse. Whitman wrote about every aspect of life, high and low, reflecting the city he adored and the country he loved. has democratic features. Who was this man?
Well, in Song of Myself, Whitman tries to tell us. What you get is not a picture of some elite writer in a fantasy salon talking down to his fellow writers. But this The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me. He complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed.
I too am untranslatable. I sound my barbaric yaw, over the roofs of the world. The last cut of day holds back from me. It flings my likeness after the rest, And true as any on the shadowed wilds. It coaxes me to the vapor.
and the dusk. I depart. As air. I shake my white locks at the runaway sun. I effuse my flesh in eddies and drifted in lacy jags.
I bequeath myself to the dirt. to grow from the grass I love. If you want me again, Look for me under your boot soles. You will hardly know who I am or what I mean. but I shall be good health to you nevertheless, and filter and fibre your blood.
Failing to fetch me, at first, keep encouraged. Missing me one place, search another. I stopped somewhere. waiting for you. It's a beautiful evocation of.
of a poetry that takes the high and the low. is all in stride, all together, all equally dignified, all equally worthy. The poet compares himself To the dirt. Under your blue soul. You will hardly know.
who I am or what I mean. Anonymous. And yet, I shall be good health to you nevertheless. I stopped somewhere, waiting for you. Mm-hmm.
Yeah, Whitman could be messy, he could be gushy, he could be gabby. It's easy to make fun of him. Parody him. But the British literary giant D. H.
Lawrence understood the achievement of Whitman. which meant he understood the literary achievements springing from this new and vibrant democracy called America. And here is what Lawrence wrote. Whitman's essential message was the open road. The leaving of the soul free unto herself.
the leaving of his fate to her and to the loom of the open road. which is the bravest doctrine man has ever proposed to himself. The true democracy. where soul meets soul. in the open rope.
So, Messy Walt Whitman's poetry, you bet. But was it different in form? and substance and tone from Europe's best writers. You banned. America made homegrown literature by the people and for the people, literature that America and Americans.
alone they produce. America, thanks to these writers, had found her muse, The heart. Her voice. And a special thanks to Professor Bill McClay. His performance of these writings Just remarkable.
The Story of America series. with Professor Bill McClay here. on our American stories.
