The online journal of early american history, Common-place, has a great article about Lynne Cheney's America: A Patriotic Primer. The author's judgement: "The Patriotic Primer's overall philosophy is the soporific one that things have gotten progressively better over the centuries without ordinary Americans doing anything other than going to work, following orders, and rallying around their leaders." You can see the article here.

Common-place has a special section this issue on the Constitution...interesting reading for anyone fascinated by the sometimes murky history of this country's most famous document. Included is an article by Michael Bellesiles, the embattled historian of American gun culture. I will have more to say about him in this column at a later date...