Summer Reading

OTR's summer reading ended today just three days before the end of summer--Friday, September 23--in the northern hemisphere. He hasn't shared past lists with his Internet readers, but this season's mix has been especially satisfying. Here are the titles listed in the order in which they were read:

Ronald Reagan: How An Ordinary Man Became An Extraordinary Leader, Danesh D'Souza, 1997

Berlin Stories, Christopher Isherwood, 1945

Winesburg, Ohio, Sherwood Anderson, 1919


Memoirs of An Amnesiac, Oscar Levant, 1965

The Unimportance of Being Oscar, Oscar Levant, 1968

Tropic of Cancer, Henry Miller, 1934

The Skeptic: A Life of H.L. Mencken, Terry Teachout, 2001

A Man in Full, Tom Wolfe, 1998

Witness, Whittaker Chambers, 1952

OTR has no intention of providing tight little reviews here. He will say that reading D'Souza's favorable portrait of Reagan helped fill some knowledge gaps incurred during his "childbearing" years. The Mencken book confirmed Terry Teachout as an outstanding writer. And reading three autobiographical novels--Isherwood, Anderson, and Miller--helped fill a long-standing literary gap. Wolfe was a most interesting read for an Atlanta resident. Chambers's "autobiography" was a difficult read for its detail, frightening revelations, and credibility, As for Oscar Levant, he remains the most under appreciated wit--perhaps entertainer--in 20th century America.

The Loss of Common Culture

If you have followed OTR for awhile, you know I value the understanding and appreciation of popular culture as a significance force in directing our American experience. Popular culture really is an ingredient in the cement which holds the country together. And there was a time when that cement was much stronger than it is today. If you were value programmed after the Vietnam War - let's say born after 1960 - you really don't have much experience with common culture. The "Me Decade," political correctness, multiculturalism/diversity and the neglect of the past have worked to balkanize our culture. You could say common culture became an elective instead of a requirement after Vietnam.

Yes, you could say that I am a product of a required culture. When I was in elementary school in a mill town in Western Maryland, all the students attended a Thanksgiving service at the nearby Presbyterian church, and on class time. My town had a large number of Catholics, some Jews, and probably a few non-believers, not to mention what today would be called satanists, tree-huggers and worse. In the three years we made that trek for Thanksgiving, there was no word of dissent. It was a common experience, and one that I'd like to think was driven by more than our fear of Miss Dowling and her paddle. There were plenty of other cultural requirements throughout my schooling, ranging from playing a musical instrument to attending two years of ROTC at the state's flagship public university. I hadn't planned on it, but I got a liberal education. Sad to say that's no longer the case, not even in public high school. Given the state of Western civilization, a bit of repair on the common culture would be in order. Unfortunately, any large-scale restoration seems highly unlikely. None of us has time to mourn the loss. Keeping a hand on the tiller and sheet is difficult enough these days, even in a small lake.

This topic has been on my mind for several weeks. I chose to write a bit about it today because John Derbyshire referenced it in The Corner at National Review Online. What I didn't expect was finding that most able arts critic, Terry Teachout, at the link. Teachout - blogging at About Last Night - is to the fine arts what Tom Wolfe is to the novel; that is, remarkably observant, readable, and relevant. Derbyshire's sharp as well.