Egregious Reader

Last month I finished The Soul of America by Jon Meacham. He had a very compelling quote/idea from a book by Robert Penn Warren called The Legacy of the Civil War  where he argues that we can appropriately name the myths that come out of that time as The Great Alibi (the South) and the Treasury of Virtue (the North). Both impede us seeing reality and dealing directly with our current problems.  So am halfway through Warren's book (its small) and I see this shocking/interesting reference to William James (perhaps the greatest American philosopher) "the bitch-goddess Success." Well I had to get out my phone and look that up. I found a site with the entire letter Jame's wrote to a novelist friend in 1906. Here is the quote in better context (and interesting today, listen to Bill Kristol on Recode Decode about the slippery slope of the Republicans): When the ordinary American hears of them [ethical lapses of our leaders/system], instead of the idealist wit