The Reading Room

Democracy in America, a Reading Room essay

On Democracy in America

Michael Fowler

It took a young French aristocrat to see American civic life more clearly than the Americans did.

On Democracy in America

Michael Fowler

It took a young French aristocrat to see American civic life more clearly than the Americans did.

The Human Condition, a Reading Room essay

On The Human Condition

Michael Fowler

If The Origins of Totalitarianism shows what is destroyed when freedom fails, The Human Condition shows what is lost.

On The Human Condition

Michael Fowler

If The Origins of Totalitarianism shows what is destroyed when freedom fails, The Human Condition shows what is lost.

Bowling Alone, a Reading Room essay

On Bowling Alone

Michael Fowler

Robert Putnam noticed that Americans were still bowling, but they had stopped bowling in leagues, and out of that small observation he built one of the most influential works of...

On Bowling Alone

Michael Fowler

Robert Putnam noticed that Americans were still bowling, but they had stopped bowling in leagues, and out of that small observation he built one of the most influential works of...

Ill Fares the Land, a Reading Room essay

On Ill Fares the Land

Michael Fowler

Tony Judt wrote Ill Fares the Land, published in 2010, as a dying man's argument to the young.

On Ill Fares the Land

Michael Fowler

Tony Judt wrote Ill Fares the Land, published in 2010, as a dying man's argument to the young.

Walden, a Reading Room essay

On Walden

Michael Fowler

Henry David Thoreau went to the woods, he said, because he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if he could not...

On Walden

Michael Fowler

Henry David Thoreau went to the woods, he said, because he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and to see if he could not...

Self-Reliance and The American Scholar, a Reading Room essay

On Self-Reliance and The American Scholar

Michael Fowler

Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the young United States its intellectual declaration of independence, and these two essays, Self-Reliance and The American Scholar, are its core documents.

On Self-Reliance and The American Scholar

Michael Fowler

Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the young United States its intellectual declaration of independence, and these two essays, Self-Reliance and The American Scholar, are its core documents.