The Idea of America
What are the special qualities of the American experience, as they have been traditionally viewed? This institute will examine this question as we explore the American experience from "the fires of the American revolution [that] were lit by the Puritan preachers" to the idea of America as portrayed in film.
- Religion in America, Micahel Novak, American Enterprise Institute
- The Country the Founders Made, Gordon S. Wood, Brown University, History
- Family and Society, James Q. Wilson, Pepperdine University, Sociology
- The City, Joel Kotkin, New America Foundatio; and Alan Ehernhaltn, Governing Magazine
- The Frontier, Terry L. Anderson, Montana State University, Economics
- America in Poetry, Dana Gioia, National Endowment for the Arts
- America in Film, Michael Flaherty, Walden Media
Michael Novak is the author of On Two Wings and The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism. Gordon Wood is the leading historian of the Revolutionary period and his The Radicalism of the American Revolution won a Pulitzer Prize. James Q. Wilson is the dean of American social policy scholars and a winner of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His books include Thinking About Crime and On Character. Joel Kotkin is the author od the highly-acclaimed The City: A Global History. Alan Ehernhalt is the author of The Lost City and the editor of Governing Magazine. Terry Anderson is the co-author of The Not So Wild West: Property Rights on the Frontier. Dana Gioia is the Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. He has published three collections of poetry: Daily Horoscope, The Gods of Winter and Interrogation at Noon. Michael Flaherty is the President of Walden Media, which produced The Chronicles of Narnia.