A thread through the archive
Essays tagged “American history”. Follow an idea across the archive.
A deep dive into the Book of Abraham, focusing on how Joseph Smith's translations of Egyptian papyri were definitively proven false by Egyptologists, yet Mormonism continues to thrive—raising questions about whether instrumental rationality trumps epistemic rationality.
Scott reviews David Brooks' thesis on how a 1950s change in Ivy League admissions policy reshaped American elite culture and society.
Scott Alexander shares and comments on passages from Peter Turchin's 'Ages of Discord', exploring historical cycles of unity and polarization in American society.
Scott reviews 'Ages of Discord', which applies cyclic theories of civilizational rise and fall to modern America, finding the data interesting but the core theory questionable.
Scott Alexander creates a humorous 'Puritan' checklist to rank historical American figures, lamenting the loss of this eccentric, morally serious archetype in modern American culture.
Scott Alexander discusses a genetic study that largely confirms historical American migration patterns described in 'Albion's Seed', noting both its confirmations and areas of confusion.
Scott reviews 'Albion's Seed' by David Fischer, exploring how four British cultural groups that settled colonial America shaped regional cultures and may still influence modern US political divisions.