Popular Culture
In Pursuit–Version 2
The phrase “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is, I believe, one of the few portions of the Declaration of Independence that most Americans can recite from memory.[1] It is no surprise that two groups have chosen “In Pursuit” as the title for history-based projects For America 250. I reviewed one of those projects…
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In Pursuit–Version 1
I only found out about a wonderful documentary series titled In Pursuit: Philadelphia and the Making of America because the show’s writer and co-producer, Nathaniel Popkin, was dogged about tracking me down via email.[1] I am so glad he did. The ten-episode series uses the specifics of Philadelphia’s story to explore the broader story of…
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Another Book That Sat on the To-Be-Read Shelves for Far too Long: Fast-Talking Dames
Fast-Talking Dames by Maria DiBattista is both a study of and homage to the fast-talking heroines of Hollywood comedies in the 1930s and 1940s. Like me, DiBattista discovered the women she writes about in her early teens, when she watched old movies after school and late at night. Like me, she saw them as a…
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