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On Democracy
A New York Times Book Review New & Noteworthy Title A collection of essays, letters and poems from E.B. White, “one of the country’s great literary treasures” ( New York Times) , centered on the subject of freedom and democracy in America. “I am a member of a party of one, and I live in an age of fear.” These words were written by E. B. White in 1947. Decades before our current political turmoil, White crafted eloquent yet practical political statements that continue to resonate. “There’s only one kind of press that’s any good—” he proclaimed, “a press free from any taint of the government.” He condemned the trend of defamation, arguing that “in doubtful, doubting days, national morality tends to slip and slide toward a condition in which the test of a man’s honor is his zeal for discovering dishonor in others.” And on the spread of fascism he lamented, “fascism enjoys at the moment an almost perfect climate for growth—a world of fear and hunger.” Anchored by an introduction by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jon Meacham, this concise collection of essays, letters, and poems from one of this country’s most eminent literary voices offers much-needed historical context for our current state of the nation—and hope for the future of our society. Speaking to Americans at a time of uncertainty, when democracy itself has come under threat, he reminds us, “As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman . . . the scene is not desolate.”
240 pages, Hardcover
First published May 7, 2019
102 people are currently reading
727 people want to read
About the author
E.B. White
193 books3,302 followersElwyn Brooks White was a leading American essayist, author, humorist, poet and literary stylist and author of such beloved children's classics as Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet of the Swan. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921 and, five or six years later, joined the staff of The New Yorker magazine. He authored over seventeen books of prose and poetry and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1973.
White always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one's disposition.
Mr. White has won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, which commended him for making “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
White always said that he found writing difficult and bad for one's disposition.
Mr. White has won countless awards, including the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal, which commended him for making “a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews
January 3, 2022
White is a national treasure. His writing is some of the finest ever published by The New Yorker.
This collection of thoughts “On Democracy” primarily resulted from the events in Europe that led to the Second World War and what followed. It now has an introduction by the noted historian, Jon Meacham, whose own thoughts on democracy are, perhaps, best expressed in his recent book, The Soul of America. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Most of what constitutes this collection are essays but there are a few poems and some letters, as well. Here is an example of Meacham quoting White:
“White described a day spent on the waters in Maine.
“It struck me as we worked our way homeward up the rough bay with our catch of lobsters and a fresh breeze in our teeth that this was what the fight was all about,” he wrote. “This was it. Either we would continue to have it or we wouldn’t, this right to speak our own minds, haul our own traps, mind our own business, and wallow in the wide, wide sea.”
That fight seems to be unfolding still in the first decades of the twenty-first century, a time when an opportunistic real estate and reality TV showman from White’s beloved New York has risen to the pinnacle of American politics by marshaling and, in some cases, manufacturing fears about changing demography and identity in the life of the Republic. We can’t know for certain what White would have made of Trump or of Twitter, but we can safely say that E. B. White’s America, the one described in this collection, is a better, fairer, and more congenial place than the forty-fifth president’s.”
What struck Meacham I think will be evident to many readers: Many of White’s thoughts are still relevant for the 21st century. I will leave you with a final insight from Mecham:
'The common denominators in White’s thinking about democracy were a sense of fair play and a love of liberty. He was for that which defended and expanded freedom, and he was against that which did not. “If it is boyish to believe that a human being should live free,” he wrote in September 1940, “then I’ll gladly arrest my development and let the rest of the world grow up.”'
This collection of thoughts “On Democracy” primarily resulted from the events in Europe that led to the Second World War and what followed. It now has an introduction by the noted historian, Jon Meacham, whose own thoughts on democracy are, perhaps, best expressed in his recent book, The Soul of America. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Most of what constitutes this collection are essays but there are a few poems and some letters, as well. Here is an example of Meacham quoting White:
“White described a day spent on the waters in Maine.
“It struck me as we worked our way homeward up the rough bay with our catch of lobsters and a fresh breeze in our teeth that this was what the fight was all about,” he wrote. “This was it. Either we would continue to have it or we wouldn’t, this right to speak our own minds, haul our own traps, mind our own business, and wallow in the wide, wide sea.”
That fight seems to be unfolding still in the first decades of the twenty-first century, a time when an opportunistic real estate and reality TV showman from White’s beloved New York has risen to the pinnacle of American politics by marshaling and, in some cases, manufacturing fears about changing demography and identity in the life of the Republic. We can’t know for certain what White would have made of Trump or of Twitter, but we can safely say that E. B. White’s America, the one described in this collection, is a better, fairer, and more congenial place than the forty-fifth president’s.”
What struck Meacham I think will be evident to many readers: Many of White’s thoughts are still relevant for the 21st century. I will leave you with a final insight from Mecham:
'The common denominators in White’s thinking about democracy were a sense of fair play and a love of liberty. He was for that which defended and expanded freedom, and he was against that which did not. “If it is boyish to believe that a human being should live free,” he wrote in September 1940, “then I’ll gladly arrest my development and let the rest of the world grow up.”'
May 26, 2023
EB White is a master of that peculiarly America form of essaying, which takes democracy and plays it out in the pages of newsprint.
His thoughts here felt simple and clear and wholehearted—queer to read now when the words he can use so easily and clearly (freedom being the foremost) are buzzwords used as shorthand for whatever is convenient. It was mildly disconcerting to read similar questions and concerns from almost a century ago. More disconcerting is the realization that I, when measured against White, must be the cynic in the room—not a role I’m used to playing.
The discouraging note is that what White points to again and again as the engine of a democracy—a free, multitudinous, and independent press—is not only disappearing but is being energetically curtailed by the bastardization of free enterprise.
However, I’ll stop myself, since the only jarring notes in this essay collection came from the introduction and the blurb on the cover by Madeline Albright. It feels as though every worthwhile idea cannot be shared on its own, it’s forewarned or commented or championed by some political actor interested in drawing a straight line between that worthwhile idea, any veneer of wisdom, and the stump on which they currently find themselves.
The prose alone is excellent.
His thoughts here felt simple and clear and wholehearted—queer to read now when the words he can use so easily and clearly (freedom being the foremost) are buzzwords used as shorthand for whatever is convenient. It was mildly disconcerting to read similar questions and concerns from almost a century ago. More disconcerting is the realization that I, when measured against White, must be the cynic in the room—not a role I’m used to playing.
The discouraging note is that what White points to again and again as the engine of a democracy—a free, multitudinous, and independent press—is not only disappearing but is being energetically curtailed by the bastardization of free enterprise.
However, I’ll stop myself, since the only jarring notes in this essay collection came from the introduction and the blurb on the cover by Madeline Albright. It feels as though every worthwhile idea cannot be shared on its own, it’s forewarned or commented or championed by some political actor interested in drawing a straight line between that worthwhile idea, any veneer of wisdom, and the stump on which they currently find themselves.
The prose alone is excellent.
May 27, 2019
White was an exceptional writer -- thoughtful, clever, witty, and able to drive home his point in a reasonable yet effective manner. This is a nice collection of his writings on democracy, but those readers unaware of the themes and players in American and world history from the 1920's through the 1960's are going to be at a disadvantage reading them. This little volume would have benefited from the addition of a short paragraph at the beginning of each writing explaining the historical context.
August 29, 2020
These essays are as relevant today as when they were written, primarily during the period between the 1930s and the 1960s. The issues that they address with respect to fascism and nativism leading to the Second World War, how to win the hearts and minds of allies, McCarthyism, the Cold War and related subjects mirror today’s current events and the ongoing divide and populism that threaten to undermine and possibly destroy our democracy.
January 26, 2025
gearing up for another 4 miserable years under a trump presidency.
“to be free, in a planetary sense, is to feel that you belong to earth. to be free, in a social sense, is to feel at home in a democratic framework.”
“to be free, in a planetary sense, is to feel that you belong to earth. to be free, in a social sense, is to feel at home in a democratic framework.”
August 6, 2025
Audio.
This book makes me happy to be an American and had me feeling hopeful by its conclusion. I loved this collection of essays, editorials, poems, letters, etc from E.B. White, most often remembered for his children’s books “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”.
This collection was published in 2019 but even more relevant in 2025 with White’s criticism of a free press, separation of religion from public schools, fascism, Nazism, pride, morality, etc. It’s chronological beginning in 1928 and ending in 1976. He died in 1985 from Alzheimer’s.
Kurt Vonnegut once called White "one of the most admirable prose stylists our country has so far produced."
Both this collection and Vonnegut’s criticism of George W. Bush in “A Man Without a Country” have reminded me this year that history repeats itself and there are always people who are standing up for what’s right, defending people that aren’t like them, holding on to their beliefs throughout their lives, using their creative powers and platforms to ask questions and protest.
—
The essay I loved in this was “Bedfellows” in which he compares political views to his anthropomorphized deceased dachshund Fred. (Another excellent collection of White’s “On Dogs”)
—
“Yet our country, seen through the mists of smog, is curiously lovable, in somewhat the way an individual who has got himself into an unconscionable scrape seems lovable - or at least deserving of support. What other country is so appalled by its own shortcomings, so eager to atone for its own bad conduct? What other country ever issued an invitation like the one on the statue in New York’s harbor? Wrongdoing, debauchery, decadence, decline—these are no more apparent in America today than are the myriad attempts to correct them and the myriad devices for doing it.”
This book makes me happy to be an American and had me feeling hopeful by its conclusion. I loved this collection of essays, editorials, poems, letters, etc from E.B. White, most often remembered for his children’s books “Charlotte’s Web” and “Stuart Little”.
This collection was published in 2019 but even more relevant in 2025 with White’s criticism of a free press, separation of religion from public schools, fascism, Nazism, pride, morality, etc. It’s chronological beginning in 1928 and ending in 1976. He died in 1985 from Alzheimer’s.
Kurt Vonnegut once called White "one of the most admirable prose stylists our country has so far produced."
Both this collection and Vonnegut’s criticism of George W. Bush in “A Man Without a Country” have reminded me this year that history repeats itself and there are always people who are standing up for what’s right, defending people that aren’t like them, holding on to their beliefs throughout their lives, using their creative powers and platforms to ask questions and protest.
—
The essay I loved in this was “Bedfellows” in which he compares political views to his anthropomorphized deceased dachshund Fred. (Another excellent collection of White’s “On Dogs”)
—
“Yet our country, seen through the mists of smog, is curiously lovable, in somewhat the way an individual who has got himself into an unconscionable scrape seems lovable - or at least deserving of support. What other country is so appalled by its own shortcomings, so eager to atone for its own bad conduct? What other country ever issued an invitation like the one on the statue in New York’s harbor? Wrongdoing, debauchery, decadence, decline—these are no more apparent in America today than are the myriad attempts to correct them and the myriad devices for doing it.”
June 10, 2019
Any book that includes "Bedfellows," one of the best essays ever written on the American experiment (and dachshunds), is a must-read. This book, featuring essays and commentaries that were written 50 years ago and more, is designed to serve as a commentary on our current state of affairs. In that regard, it rarely disappoints. Indeed, White somehow anticipated so many of the issues currently at the forefront of our daily concerns about the survival of our democracy. A welcome addition to any E.B. White collection.
December 20, 2022
White is undoubtedly a great writer, as is presaged by being coauthor on the immortal The Elements of Style, not to forget Charlotte’s Web of course. It is instructive to read the writings of someone over five decades, and thereby see his evolution of deeper insight into what freedom, liberty and democracy actually mean and act in practice. He moves from a relatively simplistic, middle class view of unvarnished freedom, bold as it may be, and over time develops the necessary subtlety to understand what Elizabeth Anker calls “ugly freedoms”, the freedom for some that is a prison and injustice for others. If someone is exploring how democracy and freedom work, or don’t work, for the most disadvantaged and those who would be trampled by the majority, then White was onto something ahead of his time, especially in the conforming 1950s.
September 4, 2025
A fantastic little treatise on conditions that render the best of what America can offer. Particularly enjoyed his remarks on the press, unity of purpose that is paradoxically lacking in a political hertitage, such as ours. “English Freedom” vs (what he didn’t say) “Russian Communism” or “Chinese Authoritarianism”… that just hit
July 14, 2025
This resonated with me so much, it's like I was inside of a bell. I also would not be surprised if I am actively being haunted by the spirit of EB White. Everyone should read this and be a little haunted by how applicable every word is to what is happening today.
June 24, 2023
I love EB White.
March 22, 2023
Democracy, famously described by Winston Churchill as "the worst form of government except for any others that have been tried", is under question in these early decades of the 21st century. Around the globe, authoritarian leaders have sprung up like spring onions, touting political agendas aimed at undermining the basic requirements for an effective democracy, generally shouting down voices they claim are not reflective of "real" patriots and chipping away at the broad enfranchisement of voters and more or less equal access to the public square. There are also the countries that were never in the club like China, North Korea and arguably Russia providing non-democratic examples of various kinds of alternative governance by elites or dynasties. Timely, then, to read a book containing many essays and musings about democracy by a man animated by conditions other times when it was in question, the eras of pre-world war II fascism and post-war communism. As you might expect, On Democracy is well written, concise in language, controlled in tone and brightened by the use of personal perspectives. E.B. White, is the famous co-author of the treasured guide to effective writing, The Elements of Style, and a long time writer for the New Yorker. From the outset, White is a patriot and a supra-nationalist, placing the workings of national governments within the workings of supranational organizations created through treaties and nascent organizations such as the League of Nations and, post war, the United Nations. "It is easier for a man to be loyal to his club than to his planet: the bylaws are shorter and he is personally acquainted with the other members. A club, moreover, or a nation, has a most attractive offer to make: it offers the right to be exclusive." White's post-war enthusiastic hopes for a democracy of nations centered around the United Nations Organization. As the decades rolled on, he must have been sorely disappointed. His other great enthusiasm was the nourishing of democratic processes through diverse voices in business, the academy and the free press. In an exchange of letters to the editor with the New York Herald Tribune over the "loyalty tests" of the McCarthy era, he stated that "the principle of demanding an expression of political conformity as the price of a job is ... the blood brother of witch burning." He held that "a healthy university in a healthy democracy is a free society, in miniature. The pesky nature of a democracy is that it has no comfortable rigidity; it always hangs by a thread, never quite submits to consolidation or solidification, is always being challenged, always being defended." He would have hated the political and cultural atmosphere of the early decades of the 21st century which is all about purity and conformance to political constructs. Another thing he would have hated is the death of thousands of newspapers offering a diversity of views in all advanced democracies. White was a believer in free discourse in the public square and, moreover, that discourse was most valuable and, not least, most interesting and fun, when it brought challenging concepts into the ring, to do battle on their merits. That is a world fast disappearing as algorithms curate news from free sources consistent with our "preferences". One of the most lovely pieces in the book is a long article where the views of politicians and pundits are contrasted with the behaviors of White's long dead pet dachshund, Fred. In the interplay between Fred's world and America's democracy, White offers up gems like "I have yet to see a piece of writing, political or non-political, that doesn't have a slant. All writing slants the way the writer leans, and no man is born perpendicular. The beauty of the American free press is that the slants and the twists and the distortions come from so many directions, and the special interests are so numerous, the reader must sift and sort and check and countercheck in order to find out what the score is. This he does." A beautiful sentence in a satisfying book. Too bad there are not many more E.B. Whites illuminating our political world today.
January 2, 2022
One has to continuously remind themselves that Mr. White is of a truly different era, born only a bit more than 100 years after the signing of the constitution.
I say this because these essays and letters, all beautifully written by a first-rate mind, oscillate between incisive analysis of multipolar agreements and international law to facepalm-y tutting about the specter of Communism. They are at times redolent of what appears to be a simpler world where patriotism was both noble and somehow “obvious”. Where you can talk about American exceptionalism without irony or disgust.
Mr. White is not selling us anything, and he is not naive. He knows the US is corrupt and that other nations are venal and led by scoundrels. Yet he offers a light touch that is pleasing even as a reminder of what has been lost, like a photomontage in a post-apocalyptic movie of a couple running with kids along a beach at sunset.
We had it good then, didn’t we!
But if it were only that, this book would quickly become treacly and unreadable, so thankfully there are essays where White digs into real issues with no lack of confidence and no ambiguity. He calls b.s. on the silly platitudes of JFK and his ilk for bringing the rule of law to mankind, because he knows that our rule of law needs the point of a gun, and that we would never allow an international body to hold that gun. He knows that Goldwater is dangerous, because of his certainty as well as his detest for the free press.
These moments make this book worth reading. We live in a time of despair over our institutions, and it is nice to hear from someone who has Hope even though they are smart enough to see through the veil.
I say this because these essays and letters, all beautifully written by a first-rate mind, oscillate between incisive analysis of multipolar agreements and international law to facepalm-y tutting about the specter of Communism. They are at times redolent of what appears to be a simpler world where patriotism was both noble and somehow “obvious”. Where you can talk about American exceptionalism without irony or disgust.
Mr. White is not selling us anything, and he is not naive. He knows the US is corrupt and that other nations are venal and led by scoundrels. Yet he offers a light touch that is pleasing even as a reminder of what has been lost, like a photomontage in a post-apocalyptic movie of a couple running with kids along a beach at sunset.
We had it good then, didn’t we!
But if it were only that, this book would quickly become treacly and unreadable, so thankfully there are essays where White digs into real issues with no lack of confidence and no ambiguity. He calls b.s. on the silly platitudes of JFK and his ilk for bringing the rule of law to mankind, because he knows that our rule of law needs the point of a gun, and that we would never allow an international body to hold that gun. He knows that Goldwater is dangerous, because of his certainty as well as his detest for the free press.
These moments make this book worth reading. We live in a time of despair over our institutions, and it is nice to hear from someone who has Hope even though they are smart enough to see through the veil.
April 21, 2020
“Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time.”
E B White’s small tome, On Democracy, is as pertinent today as when each essay was written. This collection of essays, poems and letters, edited by his granddaughter Martha, spans the era from the late ‘20s to the late ‘70s. While reading the beautiful prose and thoughtfully advanced ideas on liberty, government and the free press, I could imagine sitting around the kitchen table discussing current events with Mr. White. This book is an excellent reflection for our times.
E B White’s small tome, On Democracy, is as pertinent today as when each essay was written. This collection of essays, poems and letters, edited by his granddaughter Martha, spans the era from the late ‘20s to the late ‘70s. While reading the beautiful prose and thoughtfully advanced ideas on liberty, government and the free press, I could imagine sitting around the kitchen table discussing current events with Mr. White. This book is an excellent reflection for our times.
October 2, 2024
The pieces (most from the New Yorker but also some correspondence) cover some fifty years (from the 1920s to 1970s). The most recent is now almost 50 years old. So, as you would suspect, there are references that will escape younger listeners and issues discussed that are not as pertinent now as they were at the time. But most of the pieces are extremely relevant to our time. Anyone who is concerned with maintaining our democracy should listen to them and learn.
November 16, 2019
I picked this up because my writing is suffering terribly from 2.5 years of law school and reading Les Mis. I needed an antidote of writing so clear and succinct that the writer has no room to hide lazy thinking or compromised morals. This delivered admirably.
January 7, 2025
Even though I am truly worried about the future of our country, this book gave me hope. We've been through bad stuff before, much of it similar to what's going on now, and White writes about that in these essays. Good prevailed then, and hopefully it will again. Lots of good stuff to think about.
February 17, 2020
I want to give a copy of this book to everyone I know!
November 7, 2025
Reading this book a few months into Trump's second term feels surreal. I highlighted entire paragraphs of some of these essays as we are repeating the same things that White was writing about a half a century ago. I felt so much frustration at some of these because it is exactly what the administration is doing. At the time of reading, it was a lot of attacks on universities and using regulatory agencies to place pressure on news organizations to limit or change their coverage. At the time of writing this review, unidentified agents in plain clothes, often masked and failing to identify themselves or their agencies are running rampant across the country. I'm sure there were some essays addressing that exact behavior, but I don't particularly remember them. Overall, I recommend this collection a lot. The essays are mostly short, digestible, spark thought, and provide relevance to the world around us. Just go read it!
November 29, 2022
From Jon Mecham's wonderful introduction to this wonderful collection of White's writings: "...White, arguably the finest occasional essayist of the twentieth century, endures because he wrote plainly and honestly about the things that matter the most, from life on his farm in Maine to the lives of nations and of peoples. Known popularly more for his books for children (Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little) than for his corpus of essays, White is that rarest of figures, a writer whose ordinary run of work is so extraordinary that it repays our attention decades after his death."
January 1, 2024
White thought and wrote with remarkable clarity and insight. His fierce devotion to freedom - escpecially of the press and conscience - reminds of John Lewis' devotion to civil rights. (Jon Meacham, who wrote the excellent book on Lewis recently read and commented upon by this reader, also provided an intro to this collection of White's writing.)
Interestingly, White's vision of a "supranational" government of nations dedicated to securing freedom and justice beyond national borders, does not stray all that far from Lewis' vision of the Beloved Community, though White dispensed with any religious overtones. That so little progress has been made toward achieving either of those visions, indeed it's been mostly downhill since they were voiced, does not bode well as we begin another year in the US, with such a critical election down the road.
Interestingly, White's vision of a "supranational" government of nations dedicated to securing freedom and justice beyond national borders, does not stray all that far from Lewis' vision of the Beloved Community, though White dispensed with any religious overtones. That so little progress has been made toward achieving either of those visions, indeed it's been mostly downhill since they were voiced, does not bode well as we begin another year in the US, with such a critical election down the road.
July 4, 2025
On Democracy, a collection of columns and letters from EB White is clarity of thought put to words in defense of our constitution, democratic principles and form of government. Chastising haters, war mongers and money grubbers, White offers common sense and meaningful analysis of how things can so easily put asunder those democratic principles and our democratic form of government. How appropriate his word ring true, perhaps even more so today. On Democracy should be on every politician's desk, from county commissioner, right up to the White House. Sadly, it would likely never be read, especially at the highest level of power.
December 28, 2019
(3 1/2). I have to mark this little book up to 4 stars for its importance, as well as its literary worth. White’s outlook on Democracy, government, the world, and especially war is very needed in these divisive times. He explains his version of the real cornerstones for the preservation of society as Americans know and understand it. I am concerned that many today would call him a fanatical liberal but I say they are not trying to understand what he is saying. Compromise, negotiation and defending liberty is a good thing. Strong stuff.
Read
January 26, 2020E.B. White Spoke to His Time – and Ours
Today’s divisive, clamorous politics and President Trump himself offer abundant reason to read these essays, some more than 75 years old, today. In his introduction to the book, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jon Meacham calls President Trump an “opportunistic real estate and reality TV showman.”
Read my review of On Democracy in the
Portland Press Herald
August 5, 2021
Short and powerful. White's essays have as much meaning today as when they were written between the 1930s though 1960s. I plan on buying a physical copy of this book. It is one that should be read frequently.
How did I come to read this book: I had recently read Charlotte's Web and Cloud Library had this as a suggestion for me. I read quite a few political books too. Or maybe it was on a list in Cloud Library and I had White's name in my head. I'm glad that Cloud Library pointed my way to this book.
How did I come to read this book: I had recently read Charlotte's Web and Cloud Library had this as a suggestion for me. I read quite a few political books too. Or maybe it was on a list in Cloud Library and I had White's name in my head. I'm glad that Cloud Library pointed my way to this book.
October 8, 2019
In essays spanning nearly fifty years, White explores democracy and his complicated relationship with it. Some, including the last entry from the the date of the Bicentennial of the U.S.A., address issues so familiar that you could believe that they were written last week. As always, White’s writing is clever and pointed (in a meandering sort of way). This is a reminiscence and an exploration well worth taking.
September 24, 2021
Nicely crafted set of essays and letters to the editor spanning roughly 50 years. A distressing number could have been written about the state of US politics and the world today.
White is an elegant writer, concise, powerful and persuasive. A few seem a bit naive or simplistic, particularly those calling for a new supranational world order but the majority provoke the reader into a carful assessment of how the world does, doesn't, should and shouldn't work.
White is an elegant writer, concise, powerful and persuasive. A few seem a bit naive or simplistic, particularly those calling for a new supranational world order but the majority provoke the reader into a carful assessment of how the world does, doesn't, should and shouldn't work.
July 8, 2019
I’m glad I read it. This is a beautiful collection of mostly small pieces written by E. B. White over the years about the Red Scare, democracy, the freedom of the press, fear, the nature of the world and human beings. These pieces are extraordinary and timely for today. I will come back to his rich mine of wisdom and beautiful writing.
October 8, 2019
E. B. White was a wise man. I encourage you to sit with this collection of his essays. Don't rush through them they're worth ruminating on.
I particularly liked his letter to the Bangor Daily News dated October 8,1964 entitled "Democracy is Destructible."
As I write this I realize it was 55 years ago today and it could not be more timely.
Mr. White's voice is one for the ages.
I particularly liked his letter to the Bangor Daily News dated October 8,1964 entitled "Democracy is Destructible."
As I write this I realize it was 55 years ago today and it could not be more timely.
Mr. White's voice is one for the ages.
November 14, 2019
https://lithub.com/jon-meacham-on-e-b...
In times as fraught as these, it is reassuring to take a look back at where we came from, at a time when patriotism was not overrun with nationalism, and decency and fair play were shared values rather than aberrations. And to immerse oneself in the clear, lucid, graceful prose of an American master.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 57 reviews