At 3:00 p.m. EST, I will be on NPR’s “Talk of the Nation” program, along with Charles Blow of the New York Times, to discuss this report of the Pew Research Center suggesting that belief in American “exceptionalism” is subsiding. If you look at the full report linked on that page, you’ll find that none of the survey questions actually asked about American “exceptionalism,” in so many words. Since it was a cross-national survey querying the British, the French, the Germans, and the Spanish as well, perhaps it was not the sort of question that travelled very well. Anyway, I hope it will be an interesting discussion, and FT readers might want to tune in.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
