1. Patrick McNamara on Orestes Brownson—I once wrote a historiographic study on Brownson during my graduate studies at Loyola. The paper was panned, but I never should’ve been allowed to write a historiographic study on a person about whom only traditional biographies had been written. I think only Schlesinger’s book, mentioned in McNamara’s write up, ventured into the historical-biography realm. Anyway, grad-school bitterness aside, Brownson is an important figure mentioned in virtually every intellectual history covering mid-nineteenth century America. I’ll probably hearken back to his 1866 book, The American Republic, for my own upcoming paper on Catholics and world federalism—proposed Read more