16. The American Character Expressed Through Literature feat. Brian Wilson of Montana Classical College

Landen and Riley return after the election, switching gears to talk about the Renaissance of American Literature. This week, the boys were joined by Brian Wilson, the Founder of Montana Classical College, a new institution that is focused on promoting excellence for the human body & soul; especially by educating people on the thought & sayings of history’s greatest thinkers & writers. The three of them talk about how & why Brian started MCC, what the great thinkers can teach us about virtue and our own moral imaginations, the values expressed by the writers of the American Renaissance, the emergence of the American identity during the nineteenth century, the importance of knowing one’s own tradition, whether there are any Great Works in America’s future, and much more. Landen, Riley, and Brian draw on a huge array of talented thinkers and writers like Homer, Plato, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Russell Kirk, and CS Lewis. Tune in to catch it all! Brian’s Links: Twitter/X: https://x.com/MTClassical Substack: https://montanaclassicalcollege.substack.com Directly Referenced Works: Herman Melville’s “Moby Dick” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” -----Subscribe to the Crux of the Matter on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMZV12DEH7FLtirpmNXS7pQ -----For serious inquiries, questions, comments, and hate mail, contact: [email protected] -----