On Wednesday, October 29, we'll be talking with Andrew Ferguson, author of the highly praised books Land of Lincoln: Adventures in Abe's America and Fools' Names and Fools' Faces. He is senior editor of The Weekly Standard and a columnist for Bloomberg News based in Washington, D.C. Before joining the Standard at its founding in 1995, he was senior editor at the Washingtonian magazine. He has been a columnist for Fortune, TV Guide, and Forbes FYI, and a contributing editor to Time magazine. He has also written for the New Yorker, New York, The New Republic, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and other publications. In 1992, he was a White House speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush.
In preparation for the conversation, please read the following pieces and create a response per the outline after the links:
"Twits on Parade Twittering is the newest of the new media. And the worst," The Weekly Standard, 10/20/2008
"Time Embraces a Timeless Idea This is hardly the first call to national service," The Weekly Standard, 9/22/2008
"The Media Builds a Monument to Itself The Newseum reeducates the public," The Weekly Standard, 5/05/2008
"The Literary Obama From eloquent memoir to Democratic boilerplate," The Weekly Standard, 02/12/2007
"A History Hobby: Don't leave scholarship to the professionals," The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2007
Please watch the first 30 minutes of this video of Ferguson talking about Land of Lincoln:
http://fora.tv/2007/07/11/Andrew_Ferguson_talks_about_Land_of_Lincoln
Please create a response that engages what you see as a central theme to Ferguson's work.
Some questions you might consider: How would you characterize Ferguson's attitudes toward youth? Media (old and new)? Patriotism? History? Politics? The Weekly Standard is generally understood to be a conservative, Republican-friendly magazine. Do Ferguson's pieces fit into that categorization? How or how not? How does his characterization of Lincoln buffs fit into ideas about how fans or audiences consume culture? Feel free to use his work as a jumping off point for a 750 to 1,000 word essay or an unconventional response.
Also, generate at least three questions to ask him. Please post the response and the questions to the blog in the form a new post by 5pm, Tuesday, October 28.
In preparation for the conversation, please read the following pieces and create a response per the outline after the links:
"Twits on Parade Twittering is the newest of the new media. And the worst," The Weekly Standard, 10/20/2008
"Time Embraces a Timeless Idea This is hardly the first call to national service," The Weekly Standard, 9/22/2008
"The Media Builds a Monument to Itself The Newseum reeducates the public," The Weekly Standard, 5/05/2008
"The Literary Obama From eloquent memoir to Democratic boilerplate," The Weekly Standard, 02/12/2007
"A History Hobby: Don't leave scholarship to the professionals," The Wall Street Journal, May 25, 2007
Please watch the first 30 minutes of this video of Ferguson talking about Land of Lincoln:
http://fora.tv/2007/07/11/Andrew_Ferguson_talks_about_Land_of_Lincoln
Please create a response that engages what you see as a central theme to Ferguson's work.
Some questions you might consider: How would you characterize Ferguson's attitudes toward youth? Media (old and new)? Patriotism? History? Politics? The Weekly Standard is generally understood to be a conservative, Republican-friendly magazine. Do Ferguson's pieces fit into that categorization? How or how not? How does his characterization of Lincoln buffs fit into ideas about how fans or audiences consume culture? Feel free to use his work as a jumping off point for a 750 to 1,000 word essay or an unconventional response.
Also, generate at least three questions to ask him. Please post the response and the questions to the blog in the form a new post by 5pm, Tuesday, October 28.
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