In 2019, Encounter Books published America’s Revolutionary Mind: A Moral History of the American Revolution and the Declaration That Defined It, a landmark book by C. Bradley Thompson. (See my brief review.) Now Prof. Thompson has launched his own imprint, Loco-Foco Press, with the publication of his beautiful short book, What America Is.

This new book consists of a series of essays and is an excellent companion to the more scholarly and much longer America’s Revolutionary Mind. The first essay, “The Moral Logic of the American Revolution,” summarizes main points from the larger book, absent the mountain of documentary evidence that the larger book provides. This essay discusses the foundational ideas of equality and rights as understood by the Founding Fathers and also the regular citizenry. The essay also reminds the reader of an idea even more foundational: that equality and rights are what leave individuals free to exercise their reason and agency.

Next in the book is the title essay, my personal favorite. Here Prof. Thompson describes how the founding ideas led to the flourishing of America in the subsequent century and beyond.

The remaining essays present personal, moving experiences and wisdom of Prof. Thompson regarding America in our lifetime and in the future.

The Appendix contains a few essential documents from American history, documents that all Americans should know intimately.

The intellectual pillars of our nation are under assault. Most of today’s prominent defenders of Americanism are resorting mainly to a reductio ad absurdum of the assailants. Such a defense is well and good, because many of the assailants are easily exposed as racists and perverts. But we need more: We must understand and articulate the good of America. This new book, along with the other works by Prof. Thompson, are prime tools for this glorious endeavor.