"We will never save civilisation as long as civilisation is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more."
—C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
I might have Billy in my thesis. I just read about him in a book by Douglas Frank. But I'm leaning more toward William Jennings Bryan, who would have been my second guess.
For all I know he was. In your search of that database with speeches, have you run into any of his? It would be interesting to hear him. Have you read Mencken's take on WJB? It was pretty funny.
So did Unk get it? Is the game over, just like that?
I really enjoy Mencken, but his work on Bryan is really unfortunate. Bryan does't measure up to Machen's orthodoxy and methods (Machen was opposite of Bryan in many ways and declined to testify in the Scopes Trial). Bryan's politics are nearly as far from my own as is possible. Yet, all things considered, I don't think his career was dishonorable.
I think it is a shame that so much of Bryan's reputation is defined by one his lesser performances. He had been out of the courtroom for thirty years. Rather than being the confident orator of the turn of the century, he came across as aged and confused. Those must have been sad days.
Yeah, Unk got it. He's been reading too much Billy Sunday. Oops, I was going to abbreviate his name for a second and then thought better of it. You all are way beyond my knowledge of Sunday and Bryan. I haven't looked into that database for Bryan's stuff yet.
7 comments:
Billy Sunday?
Unk,
You are truly amazing. I should not have underestimated your love for the heroes of early Fundamentalism.
I might have Billy in my thesis. I just read about him in a book by Douglas Frank. But I'm leaning more toward William Jennings Bryan, who would have been my second guess.
Wasn't WJB more of a dove when it came to nationalistic fervor?
For all I know he was. In your search of that database with speeches, have you run into any of his? It would be interesting to hear him. Have you read Mencken's take on WJB? It was pretty funny.
So did Unk get it? Is the game over, just like that?
I really enjoy Mencken, but his work on Bryan is really unfortunate. Bryan does't measure up to Machen's orthodoxy and methods (Machen was opposite of Bryan in many ways and declined to testify in the Scopes Trial). Bryan's politics are nearly as far from my own as is possible. Yet, all things considered, I don't think his career was dishonorable.
I think it is a shame that so much of Bryan's reputation is defined by one his lesser performances. He had been out of the courtroom for thirty years. Rather than being the confident orator of the turn of the century, he came across as aged and confused. Those must have been sad days.
Yeah, Unk got it. He's been reading too much Billy Sunday. Oops, I was going to abbreviate his name for a second and then thought better of it. You all are way beyond my knowledge of Sunday and Bryan. I haven't looked into that database for Bryan's stuff yet.
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