Inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s famous speech, The American Scholar is the quarterly magazine of public affairs, literature, science, history, and culture published by the Phi Beta Kappa Society since 1932.

It was the war that gave birth to the United States, the world’s first—and today, oldest—liberal democracy. The Revolution liberated the 13 colonies from British rule and created heroes and battles now secure in national lore: George Washington. Paul Revere. Alexander Hamilton. The Battles of Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Yorktown. But what led these heroes to upturn their lives of comfort for the dangerous pursuit of the difficult ideals of

From his early days as a college athlete turned bar-band singer to his meteoric rise in the 1990s and up until his present life as a living legend—Garth Brooks has never lost gratitude for being able to perform. He considers making music an honor and a privilege, a special kind of love that he shares with audiences around the world whenever he approaches a microphone. Brooks has been rewarded with astonishing record sales, sold-out concerts and