James Bowman
James Bowman is author of Honor, A History.
Articles by James Bowman
-
Feeling Good about... Me — but that's not really the point, is it?
There is a scene in the classic John Wayne movie The Sands of Iwo Jima (1948) in which Wayne’s character, a Marine sergeant, is ordered to hold at all costs his position on a thinly manned American line against the Japanese. As night falls, he and his foxhole buddy, a man whom he regards as a surrogate son, hear the cries of a wounded man whom both of them love. The buddy, played by John Agar, is determined to go to the man’s aid, even if it means leaving his post. If he doesn’t the man will probably die. Wayne’s sergeant refuses him permission to go. “Aren’t you human at all?” asks Agar’s character, and then proceeds to tell the sergeant that he will have to shoot him to stop him from going to the wounded man’s aid. Wayne levels his rifle at him and says, “Then that’s just what I’ll do,” in tones so persuasive that the other instantly subsides.
continue reading -
Everyday Modesty
When I was growing up, athletes were expected to be modest. If you hit a home-run in the bottom of the ninth to win the World Series, and a reporter asked you how you did it, you said, “Just lucky I guess.” Even if you had been training your whole life for that moment, and knew the pitcher was going to throw a curve ball, and every fiber and synapse in your body were working at peak proficiency to whack that ninety-four-mile-an-hour ball out of the park – you were still just lucky.
continue reading -
Everyday Loyalty
“So, what’s your new book about?” my friends have been asking. Sometimes I hesitate to answer. The book is called How to Raise an American. When I tell people about it, many of them look quizzical, as if the time-honored notion of encouraging children to be caring, responsible, and, yes, loyal citizens is hard to understand. Some appear enraged by the book’s premise – and by me. One friend in the publishing industry hissed at me, “That’s sound like something only a fascist would want to write.”
continue reading
