[Updated: 2 pm CST] I’m in the midst of a slow read—a relishing really—of George Cotkin’s Existential America. After having just passed the halfway mark (p. 170 of 284 total), it occurred to me that you, the USIH reader, critic, and thinker, might be up for discussion of a topic that has arisen from that reading. I want to explore something I inelegantly term “connector figures.” These are facilitators and peripheral participants in the various intellectual communities we cover in American history. Bear with me as I meditate out loud, with you, about these figures. As I see them, connector Read more