In episode 5 of The Crown's season 4, a desperate out-of-work painter named Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace, enters the queen's bedroom, sits on the foot of her bed, and asks her for a cigarette. "Filthy habit," she replies. "Yes, I know, I'm trying to quit," he says. Then he gets down to business, … Continue reading “The Crown” and the Long Tradition of Petitioning the Monarch for Redress of Grievances
This post is an essay by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, which explores the difference between the old and new American elite. A key difference is that the old elite had a tradition of public service that is lacking today. In part this may have been a case of noblesse oblige, the responsibility of the leading families … Continue reading What the Old Establishment Can Teach the New Tech Elite
In this post, I explore insights from two important books about the peculiar way in which liberty and slavery jointly emerged from the context of colonial America. One is a new book by David Stasavage, The Decline and Rise of Democracy. The other is a 1992 book by Toni Morrison, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness … Continue reading The Central Link between Liberty and Slavery in American History
