2019-05-01_The_Atlantic

the earlier ones—the police were watching from nearby—but the and Dayton, described the low American profile in Bosnia this way: citizens stood and held candles in quiet dignity. Among them was “We’ve been doing a lot of leading from behind. It doesn’t work.” Aleksandra Vranjes, a 41-year-old single mother. She had been a member of Dodik’s party, but the grief of the dead youth’s parents A rough consensus among Bosnians dates the start of American moved her to join Justice for David, which eventually cost her a withdrawal to 2006, catalyzed by a general sense that Bosnia was patronage job in the ministry of education and culture. moving in the right direction, complacent confidence in Dodik as our man in Banja Luka, European eagerness to become the overseer, and “I’m just a mother, a parent, a human being. You either feel these the huge distraction of the Iraq War. We lost interest in this outpost of things or you don’t feel them,” she said. “To them”—she named Pax Americana. In 2007, EU troops who had replaced the Americans were shifted to Afghanistan—apparently there was no more need for Now that the American hard power in Bosnia. The neglect deepened during the Obama years. century is over, we’re Bosnia became a fourth-tier issue in Washington, generally relegated to the level of deputy assistant secretary of state. Dodik’s secession becoming more like Bosnia talk got more and more extreme. In 2016 he was hit with American than Bosnia is like us. sanctions, but he knew that we weren’t up for a fight over principles. The years of squeezing Bosnian politicians had ended. Bosnia’s ruling ethnic parties—“we are a bad seed, we are the seed of civil society that scares them the most, because we are gather- Now the nationalists have a natural ally in the White House. ing people together. All they were doing was splitting people apart. “Trump should be a friend of the Serb people,” an elderly Serb woman We are a threat to the system they built over the past 20 years.” On in Pale told me, “if only for the fact that the nanny who raised his chil- November 21, Vranjes had joined the throng and held up a sign that dren was a Serb.” It’s true: Milka Milisavljević babysat Don Jr., Eric, said FREEDOM OF SPEECH. “Dayton gives us those human rights and Ivanka for eight years and taught them a few words of Serbian. that we don’t have a right to use anymore. They’re using Dayton If Trump ever hears of Bosnia, he could destroy the country with a just to divide people, but the Dayton peace agreement is perfect for single tweet. Bassuener, the Balkan expert, imagined how it would ordinary people, because it’s got everything to tell people they’re go: “EU in chaos already with invading Muslims. Bosnia? Terrible free, just like people everywhere.” idea! Croatia and Serbia should just split it. Simple!” Here was a movement calling for human rights and decent  A S THE U.S. PULLED AWAY, Bosnia became a geo- government, invoking language written into the accords by political vacuum. The vacuum is slowly being filled by Americans—I assumed that Justice for David could count on the Russia. So far it’s all soft power: appeals to pan-Orthodox United States for support. But the morning after the vigil outside unity, easy credit for local companies with ties to party bosses, debt the church, Dejan Šajinović, a local journalist who covered Justice converted into political influence. Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign for David and grew close to David’s father, set me straight. minister, paid a visit to Dodik two weeks before last October’s elec- tion, and President Vladimir Putin met with him twice last year. Rus- “There is no U.S. involvement in supporting the Justice for David sia’s main strategic goal is to use its influence over the Serbs to keep movement. Maybe the biggest takeaway from all of this is what it Bosnia out of NATO. means on a micro scale when the U.S. pulls itself from international affairs, which is what’s happening. If the U.S. was involved as it was, “The only state that has a plan here is Russia,” Emir Suljagić, like, before two or three years ago, I know exactly what I would tell an international-relations professor in Sarajevo who, as a teen- the father to do. I would tell him, ‘Go to the U.S. Embassy.’ ” No ager, survived the Srebrenica genocide, told me. “The Europeans politician in Bosnia, even the ones who hate the U.S., can ignore it. are muddling through, believing procedure and bureaucracy can The country that ended the war and midwifed the birth of Bosnia replace policy and vision. America is as divided as Bosnia in some still has great influence and prestige, far more than the European ways. Russia is the only one who has their act together.” Union. But the influence is waning, because it is no longer used. “Either they are not giving statements, or they are mild,” Šajinović The 20th century began in Sarajevo. Starting with the First World said. “All these populist things that were happening in the ’90s are War, three wars were fought in Bosnia’s towns and mountains. Then now happening again.” came Holbrooke’s achievement at Dayton, giving Bosnia a precari- ous foothold in the liberal world. Now the American century is over, He continued: “The American president is saying journalists are and even Bosnia, which would not exist without the United States, is the enemy of the American people. Do you know how devastating slipping away. Maybe it was always too small and profoundly messed that is here? What can the U.S. ambassador tell about freedom of up to matter. Maybe it was never possible for outsiders to make a the media?” He concluded, “The U.S. is pulling back from world change there. All that foreigners could ever do was secure conditions affairs generally. And it did not start with Trump; it just accelerated in which Bosnians might make a change themselves. But now we’re with Trump.” becoming more like Bosnia than Bosnia is like us. When I visited Sarajevo in January, the American Embassy was There’s something else that would trouble Holbrooke’s ghost. between ambassadors. Because of the government shutdown in the Not the end of our global leadership—it was never sustainable, and U.S., the embassy was functioning with a skeletal staff, and no one 1995 was unique—but the withering-away of our example. We over- was allowed to talk to me. Christopher Hill, a retired ambassador estimate ourselves in almost every way, from jingoism to self-hatred, who worked alongside Holbrooke throughout his shuttle diplomacy and all the while we ignore nameless people in obscure places like Sarajevo and Banja Luka who still think we stand for something that they want for themselves. To adapt with grace to a cut in power is wisdom. It’s folly to throw away the pearl of our real greatness. George Packer is an Atlantic staff writer and the author of Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, from which this article is adapted. 98 M A Y 2 0 1 9 THE ATLANTIC

PROMOTION PLAY THE ATLANTIC Our mini puzzle gets bigger and more CROSSWORD challenging each weekday. See if you can solve this Friday puzzle. A Friday crossword from Caleb Madison Across 22. First word of Virgil’s Aeneid 7. Back then 23. Callback? 8. Chippendales’ pocketful 1. It comes before bravo 24. Response to an encore 12. “Is that true about us?” 5. Part of many a club 25. Refuses 15. Way up on the mountain? 9. Going rate? 16. Aeneas, for one 10. Something that means Down 17. Brother of Bharata, in Hindu something 1. So much mythology 11. The PPACA, informally 2. Antagonist of Los Tres Cerditos 18. Former Yes label 13. “Totally fine” 3. Focus of the insecure 19. Former Trump flunky Gary 14. ___ gratias (ancient Roman’s 4. Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! 20. It might take care of “Bless up”) writer and director loose ends? 15. Piece from the past 5. Craft pitcher, perhaps 21. Oregon city that’s home to 6. Berry often served in a bowl Nike’s headquarters theatlantic.com/crossword

E S S AY Walt Whitman’s Guide to a Thriving Democracy America had a mind shaped by its Founders, but the country needed the poet to discover its spirit. By MARK EDMUNDSON Illustration by Filip Peraić 100 MAY 2019 THE ATLANTIC



W ALT WHITMAN, “S Though America had been a nation O N G O F M Y S E L F,” arguably who was born 200 Whitman’s greatest work, can be years ago this year, for nearly 80 years, it was incomplete. seen as a vision quest. In the origi- is almost certainly The Declaration of Independence, the the greatest Amer- Constitution—those were political doc- nal version, which had no title when it ican poet. In many ways, he is also the most enigmatic. Before 1855, the year uments, pragmatic in their designs for was published in 1855, in the first edition that Whitman published Leaves of Grass, he had achieved no distinction what- democracy. What America lacked was of Leaves of Grass, Whitman begins as an soever. He had no formal education— no Oxford, no Cambridge, no Harvard what Emerson called for: an evocation of everyday workingman. He is “one of the or Yale. His life up to his 35th year had been anything but a success. He’d been a what being a democratic man or woman roughs,” the tough, laboring type who is teacher, but he was loose and a bit indo- lent, and he refused to whip his students. felt like at its best, day to day, moment to depicted on the book’s frontispiece—shirt He’d published fiction of a dramatically undistinguished sort. He’d edited a moment. We had a mind, the mind cre- open, hat tilted to the side, a calmly insou- Free Soil newspaper, which opposed the spread of slavery into the western terri- ated by Thomas Jefferson and the other ciant expression on his face. Through a tories. But there was nothing remarkable about his journalism. Much of the time, Founders, but we did not know our own series of poetic and spiritual encounters he was a workingman. He was adept as a typesetter, a difficult and demanding best spirit. he gains in experience and wisdom to trade. In the summer of 1854, he was a carpenter, framing two- and three-room Emerson couldn’t answer the call, become a representative democratic indi- houses in Brooklyn. and tacitly admitted as much. I can’t vidual, one who can show his countrymen On his lunch break, he liked to read. Whitman was taken with the writings imagine that when he asked for volun- and countrywomen the way to a thriving of Ralph Waldo Emerson that summer. He surely read “Circles” and “Self- teers, he believed a jack-of-all-trades in and joyous life. Reliance,” and “The Poet,” an essay in which Emerson called out for a genu- “I celebrate myself,” Whitman says inely American bard. Sitting quietly, Whitman read, “We have yet had no in the famous opening lines. “And what genius in America, with tyrannous eye, which knew the value of our incompara- What America lacked I assume you shall assume, / For every ble materials.” I suspect that the phrase atom belonging to me as good belongs tyrannous eye puzzled Whitman. There was nothing especially tyrannous about was what Emerson to you.” Beginning readers of the poem him, nor would there be about his poetry. called for: an evocation tend to believe that the “you” Whitman But as to knowing “the value of our in- refers to is the reader, and in some sense, comparable materials”—maybe that was something Whitman could claim. He of what being a they are surely right. But Whitman is had seen a great deal of life. He loved to democratic man or also talking to that enigmatic part of wander. He loved to look life over. He’d himself that he calls his soul. He says worked many and various jobs. woman felt like at its this very clearly: “I loafe and invite my Emerson was looking for a poet whose best, day to day. soul.” Walking away from the houses vision didn’t derive chiefly from books, and rooms that are “full of perfumes” but from American life as it was. One sen- tence in particular in his essay opens the and out to the stream bank in the woods, prospect of a new world—a new poetic world, and perhaps a new world of hu- where he can become “undisguised and man possibility as well: “Our logrolling, our stumps and their politics, our fisher- his mid-30s, headed no place in particu- naked,” he begins to do all he can to ies, our Negroes, and Indians, our boasts, and our repudiations, the wrath of rogues, lar, could possibly take up the task. Yet seduce his soul—yes, seduce. and the pusillanimity of honest men, the northern trade, the southern planting, the that is what happened. Whitman’s self, the figure depicted western clearing, Oregon, and Texas, are yet unsung.” “I was simmering, simmering, sim- at the front of the book, offers the soul mering,” Whitman told a friend. “Emer- joy—especially the joy of immediate son brought me to a boil.” Whitman physical life: understood that he was a part of one of the greatest experiments since the begin- The play of shine and shade on the ning of time: the revival of democracy in trees as the supple boughs wag, the modern world. The wise believed The delight alone or in the rush of that it probably could not be done. The the streets, or along the fields and people were too ignorant, too crude, too hillsides, grasping and greedy to come together The feeling of health … the full-noon and from their many create one. Who trill … the song of me rising from were we, after all? A nation of castoffs, a bed and meeting the sun. collection of crooks and failures, flawed daughters and second sons of second Play, delight, health, song: Come forward, sons, unquestionable losers and highly Whitman says, and embrace these joys. dubious winners. Up to now, our betters Up until now, the soul—“amused, had kept us in line: The aristocracies of complacent, compassionating, idle, Massachusetts and Virginia had shown unitary”—has been “both in and out of us the enlightened path and dragged us the game, and watching and wondering along behind them. Whitman knew (and at it.” The soul as Whitman conceives it Emerson did too) that this could not is delicate, a figure of watchful sensitiv- last forever. By sheer force of numbers, ity. It seems to be neither male nor female. or force plain and simple, outcasts and Nor is it associated with any religious con- ne’er-do-wells were eventually going to ceptions of the soul. It is, perhaps, too take over the nation. vulnerable to emerge undefended into 102 MAY 2019 THE ATLANTIC

the world, but the self succeeds in more We are all—light-hued and dark-hued, heaves down with a strong arm, than just coaxing the soul forward. In one everyday people and distinguished The mate stands braced in the whale- of a number of shocking moments in the statespersons—blades of grass, nothing poem, a love scene unfolds between self more, nothing less. We all arise from boat, lance and harpoon are ready, and soul—and the reticent soul becomes nature, and to nature, the grass, we re- The duck-shooter walks by silent and rather aggressive: turn. But, and here is Whitman’s cru- cial paradox, by affirming ourselves as cautious stretches, I mind how we lay in June, such a nothing but leaves of grass, we become The deacons are ordained with transparent summer morning; more than individual leaves. We become part of the beautiful unity—out of many, crossed hands at the altar, You settled your head athwart my one—that is the field of green, blades The spinning-girl retreats and ad- hips and gently turned over upon shining in the sun. me, vances to the hum of the big wheel, The grass passage might be taken The farmer stops by the bars of a Sun- And parted the shirt from my bosom- as a thought experiment offered to the bone, and plunged your tongue to reader. Try imagining yourself as one day and looks at the oats and rye, my barestript heart, blade of grass among a beautiful profu- The lunatic is carried at last to the sion of blades. You’re not identical to And reached till you felt my beard, the blades around you, but you are not asylum a confirmed case, and reached till you held my feet. far from being so. At any moment you He will never sleep any more as he might emphasize your singularity—what Self and soul now merged, suddenly makes you unusual among the mass. Or did in the cot in his mother’s Whitman begins—to quote another you might emphasize your identity with bedroom; visionary poet—to “see into the life of the blades that are around you. Some- The jour printer with gray head and things.” He knows that all men are his times you may not feel that you are much gaunt jaws works at his case, brothers and all women are his sisters and in yourself, but the effect that you help He turns his quid of tobacco, his eyes lovers. He feels at one with God, and he create overall is grand and quite formi- get blurred with the manuscript; sees the miracle and mystery of creation, dable. You have the comfort of unity, and The malformed limbs are tied to the down to the “mossy scabs of the worm- you have the pride and focus that come anatomist’s table, fence, and heaped stones, and elder and from individuality. We are all “so many What is removed drops horribly in a mullen and pokeweed.” This knowledge uttering tongues.” pail; becomes yours, Whitman implies, when The quadroon girl is sold at the you dare to expose your most tender and Knowing what he knows, feeling what stand … the drunkard nods by the imaginative part, under the protection of he feels, Whitman can now take us on a barroom stove. your most worldly side. tour of American democracy and show us what we might achieve by following him. Whitman is moving through space at Alive with new powers, Whitman In the famous catalogs of people doing visionary speed, seeing what there is to offers us his central image for democ- what they do every day, he is dramatiz- see of American life. The singularity of racy, the grass: “A child said, What is the ing something quite simple. These are each being matters, and their collective grass? fetching it to me with full hands.” your brothers, he effectively says. These identity matters too. You become more of Whitman says that he does not know are your sisters. Affection and friendship an individual by being a part of this group; what the grass is at its essence any more can rule the day. Relax (or “loafe,” one the group becomes richer for containing than the child does. He then moves into of Whitman’s favorite words and acts, or so many different living, breathing types. an amazing litany of metaphors. The anti-acts) and enjoy the experience of grass is the flag of Whitman’s disposi- being. If we can move away from the urge What about that quadroon girl? What tion, “out of hopeful green stuff woven.” to sweat and strain and compete and seek do we make of the fact that she’s in bond- It may be “the handkerchief of the Lord” the highest point, and instead embrace age and perhaps on her way to a life of or perhaps “a child … the produced babe Whitman’s demanding trope of the grass, servitude and violation? It’s not an easy of the vegetation.” It’s “the beautiful our experience of day-to-day life can be question. I think that by putting her in uncut hair of graves.” The grass, Whit- different. We can look at those we pass his list, Whitman makes her equal to all man observes, is darker than the beards and say: That too is me. That too I am. Or the others he names. And if that is so, of old men and the faint red roofs of the so Whitman believes and hopes. shouldn’t she be as free as any of them mouths of the dead. are at their best of times? As Whitman The pure contralto sings in the will say later in the poem, “By God! I will But chiefly, the grass is the sign of equal- accept nothing which all cannot have ity, equality within democratic America: organloft, their counterpart of on the same terms.” A little vague, but one gets the idea. When Or I guess it is a uniform hieroglyphic, The carpenter dresses his plank … the Whitman arrives at the end of his first And it means, Sprouting alike in grand catalog, he says: “And such as it is tongue of his foreplane whistles to be of these more or less I am.” broad zones and narrow zones, Growing among black folks as among its wild ascending lisp, W HITMAN’S VISION CAN sound appealing. Who would white, The married and unmarried children not want to be part of every- Kanuck, Tuckahoe, Congressman, one and everything and feel the presence ride home to their thanksgiving of all of one’s fellows in a democracy— Cuff, I give them the same, I calmly and affectionately, not in Darwin- receive them the same. dinner, ian, competitive ways? But nothing is got The pilot seizes the king-pin, he THE ATLANTIC MAY 2019 103

“A FIRST-CLASS, for nothing, and it helps to know what LENS-CHANGING WORK.” Whitman asks us to expend and what he asks us to deny, or even repudiate, in order —James N. Mattis, former United States Secretary of Defense to be his fellow democrats. NIGEL HAMILTON You might resist the collective ten- dency of the image. You might want FDR ’S FINAL O DYSSEY 4 5 there to be more difference between you DAY TO YALTA , 1943–19 and your neighbor than the difference WPAERAACNED OND- between one blade of grass out there on SALE the lawn and the next. After all, hierar- MAY 7th chy has its pleasures, or at least its satis- factions, especially if you find yourself at Marking the 75th Anniversary of D-Day the top, looking down at the mass of un- improved humanity below. Those in the The stirring climax to Nigel Hamilton’s three-part saga of FDR at war— middle regions and the lower orders, too, proof that he was WWII’s key strategist, even on his deathbed. can find some clarity in a world based on order and degree. You know where ALSO AVAILABL E FDR AT WAR you stand, with other men and women of course but also with God. You know The definitive three-volume history that FDR did not live to write. what is valuable—it’s what your masters affirm. You know what to scorn, even if “Masterly.” too often that is qualities possessed by yourself and those like you. —Wall Street Journal on Mantle of Command   You might react, too, against the natu- “Ably dramatizes Roosevelt’s ralism of the image. The grass is merely wranglings with Churchill during physical—it doesn’t connect itself in any World War II . . . Provocative.” way to the creator, to theology, to heaven —New York Times Book Review on and hell. You might miss the theological Commander in Chief dimension of existence; what the New York Times columnist David Brooks has hmhbooks.com called Whitman’s attempt to “spiritual- ize democratic life” might not be enough for you. As the poem unfolds, Whitman navi- gates this and other obstacles. You’ve got to kick your obsession with heaven and God, as traditionally conceived, he says. Whitman sees God everywhere and hears God’s voice in all things, “yet I understand God not in the least,” he says. Then: “Nor do I understand who there can be more wonderful than my- self.” And yourself, too, dear democratic reader, he might have added. For our new God is democracy; we are devoted to its thriving and expansion. The philosopher Richard Rorty put it a bit hyperbolically, but accurately overall: Whitman thought that we Americans have the most poetical nature be- cause we are the first thoroughgoing experiment in national self-creation: the first nation-state with nobody but itself to please—not even God. We are the greatest poem because we put ourselves in the place of God: our essence is our existence, and our exis- tence is in the future. Other nations thought of themselves as hymns to

Stop fear at the front door. Some days, the world can feel like a downright alarming place. At SimpliSafe, we know it feels good to fear less. So we blanket your home with award-winning 24/7 security that stands up to the unexpected, from blizzards to burglars to blackouts. It’s exceptional protection at an exceptionally fair price. As more than 3 million customers know, fear has no place in a place like home. Right now, get free shipping at SimpliSafe.com/atlantic

Life and the glory of God. We redefine God as Death in Rikers Island our future selves. Homer Venters, Whitman is fascinated by Jesus. He former Chief Medical goes so far as to join him in his bloody Officer of NYC Jails crowning and crucifixion: “I am the man … I suffered … I was there.” But Jesus Shining a light on is not an end in himself. Whitman’s Jesus the deadly health is not the savior or the son of God, but one consequences of person among many, part of an “average incarceration. unending procession,” something of an honorary American. He is, maybe, the “A crucially first democrat, in that no one else prior important book.” to the founding of America—or prior to —The New Yorker Whitman’s poetry—was so significantly devoted to the gospel of equality: That $26.95 paperback/ebook which you do to the least of mine, you do also to me. press.jhu.edu Whitman upends traditional Adventure To Go notions of sex, too, in strange and rather The Kayak That Fits In Your Car! inexplicable ways. At the center of the poem is a lengthy masturbation scene, 6HD(DJOH,QÁ DWDEOH.D\\DN in which the poet’s onanism is a source of both struggle and release: “Is this )

#

then a touch? … quivering me to a new Warranty identity.” Whitman isn’t sure, feeling he )


(
#
is held “helpless to a red marauder,” yet he proceeds to celebrate the power of Period his semen to fructify the world. As I read the passage, it amounts to a call for the For a FREE Catalog call Adventure begins with a Sea Eagle® SE370 Sport Kayak. broadening of sexual tolerance. And it signifies Whitman’s trust in the reader: 800-944-7496 Fits in a motorhome, car trunk or SUV. Inflates in minutes for a fun There’s nothing about himself he will not paddle on placid lakes, bays or up to Class III rivers. reveal. He trusts us, and perhaps we will Dept AT059B or visit trust him as well. The SE370 Pro Package includes inflatable hull, 2 inflatable seats, 19 N Columbia St, Ste 1, Port Jefferson, NY 11777 2 paddles, foot pump and storage bag. Whitman’s most difficult obstacle in the poem is death. He tells us that no Just $379* with FREE ground shipping array of terms can express how at peace he is about God and about death. He tells to the contiguous US. *Plus local sales tax. us also—and more significantly—that “the smallest sprout shows there is really no death.” How could this possibly be true? Some of Whitman’s critics say that he was a potent believer in reincarnation. I’m not sure he was, at least not in any conventional sense. I think Whitman’s confidence about overcoming death is a good deal more radical and original—and also troubling. What he seems to suggest is that if you immerse yourself fully in democracy— become that grass blade—you will achieve a certain kind of immortality. The way of life that you have fully com- mitted yourself to will go on even after you have departed. You will have contrib- uted to something great, so you can pass peacefully from the world believing that it will continue. You are in a sense—but only in a sense—immortal. 106 MAY 2019 THE ATLANTIC

T HIS IS A LOT to ask anyone to (yesterd[ay] I wrote over a dozen his poem prophesied. He engaged his embrace. Some think of Whit- letters)—some like to have me feed soul, “clear and sweet,” as he called it. man as a poet of reassuring plati- them (wounded perhaps in shoul- His soul became his mode of connection tudes. He is actually an exacting poet, not der or wrist) perhaps a few bits of with the sick and wounded and dying only in what he asks of us as readers and my peaches—some want a cooling interpreters, but in what he asks of us as drink, (I have some very nice syrups Whitman sees God humans. One has to wonder: Could we from raspberries &c.)—others want everywhere and hears ever bring Whitman’s vision fully into writing paper, envelopes, a stamp, God’s voice in all things, the world? Could Whitman himself ever &c.—I could fill a sheet with one day’s “yet I understand God embody his vision outside the poem—put items—I often go, just at dark, some- not in the least,” he says. it into practice in his life? times stay nearly all night. men. His imagination allowed him to see In the midst of the Civil War, Whit- When soldiers died—many did—he who they were, what they were feeling, man traveled to Washington, D.C., where wrote home to their parents in gentle, and how he could best help them. he gave himself over to nursing the vivid ways about their last hours and his wounded and the dying, black and white, friendship with them in the hospitals. His poetic self—tough and tireless— young and middle-aged, Union and He said, “My hospital ministrations are was at the ready too. Whitman’s endur- Confederate. He spent two years there, very fascinating with all of their sadness. ance during the hospital years was helping the men, talking to them, writing The wounded & sick get incredible near astounding. He spent day after day, hour letters for them, buying them tobacco, to one. Poor young men, they respond past hour, in a hellish environment, do- and giving them small gifts. Whitman so affectionately to kindness & magne- ing all he could. His health was always in wrote in a letter: tism.” Could one imagine any other poet jeopardy, but somehow he held up. Whit- or writer of even half Whitman’s capaci- man proved to be durable and strong. I adapt myself to each case … some ties and achievements doing as much? need to be humored, some are rather out of their head—some merely want While he was in Washington at what me to sit down [near] them, & hold he called “my hospitals,” I think Whit- them by the hand—one will want a man effectively completed “Song of My- letter written to mother or father, self.” He became a version of the person

Grand Canyon; Monument Valley; Panama Fedora He truly possessed what Emerson said Go West! on a Fully Guided Caravan Tour. he did: “buffalo strength.” He was still Call Now for Choice Dates. Classic sun protection handwoven in that formidable man on the frontispiece Ecuador from toquilla fiber. of Leaves of Grass, but he was more than 8-Day Tour $1495 +tax,fees that as well. Grosgrain ribbon band. Reinforced 4½\" See the greatest national parks crown, 2½\" brim. Finished in USA. He didn’t bring God into the hospitals of America's Southwest on a with him. Preachers of all stripes visited fully guided tour with Caravan. S (6¾-6⅞) M (7-7⅛) L (7¼-7⅜) the wards in Washington, bent on shoring Spend 4-nights in national park XL (7½-7⅝) XXL (7¾) up the men’s faith, or converting the way- lodges. Explore Grand Canyon, ward. Whitman wanted no such thing. Bryce, Zion, Monument Valley, #1648 Panama Fedora $114 delivered The soldiers knew and appreciated him Lake Powell, and more. as the man who did not preach to them. Discover why smart shoppers and Shop online or request our catalog He may have gone on beholding God in experienced travelers have chosen every object, but he did not surrender the Caravan Tours since 1952. #KB-65-2BN idea that he—and all others in America’s Caravan handles all the details democracy—were as marvelous as God while you and your family ^#1622#1649 enjoy a well-earned, worry-free “My hospital vacation. Happy Travels! 800-324-4934 davidmorgan.com ministrations are very fascinating with all of “ ”Brilliant, Affordable Pricing 11812 N Creek Pkwy N, Ste 103•Bothell, WA 98011 their sadness.” —Arthur Frommer, Travel Editor could ever be and maybe more so. He included everyone in his ministrations, Choose Your Fully Guided Tour as “Song of Myself ” indicated he would. If you were in the hospital, Whitman was 10 days Guatemala with Tikal there to help you. 9 days Costa Rica Natural Paradise 8 days Panama Canal Cruise and Tour He was able to look straight at death. 10 days Nova Scotia, P. E. Island He could do this in a way that almost no 9 days Canadian Rockies, Glacier Park one who is not a doctor or nurse can. His 8 days Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion vision had prepared him for that. “To 9 days California Coast, Yosemite Park die is different from what any one sup- 8 days Yellowstone, Mount Rushmore posed, and luckier,” he wrote. “I pass 8 days New England Fall Colors death with the dying, and birth with the new-washed babe … and am not con- FREE Tour Catalog tained between my hat and boots.” Whit- Call 1-800-CARAVAN man knew he was a blade of grass, and that as new, fresh grass—new citizens Caravan.com of democracy—arose in the world, he would be reincarnated: “The smallest The #1 In Value—Guided Tours Since 1952 sprout shows there is really no death.” He must have believed this—it had been re- vealed to him in his vision—or he would not have been able to face death, both his own death and the deaths of so many sol- diers, with as much equanimity as he did. He came back the next day and the next ready to give more help. Whitman didn’t do his good deeds under anyone’s direction but his own. He set no store by bosses or doctors or ward overseers. Quietly and modestly he went about his business, putting into practice everything he had learned from the amazing spiritual voyage that he had undertaken. Whitman became

WALK-IN BATHTUB SALE! SAVE $1,500 Walk-In Tubs One-Touch Controls Hand Held Shower Low Threshold Comfort & Safety Lifetime Warranty! Finance Options Available* 44 Hydrotherapy Jets EXPERIENCE YOU CAN TRUST! FREE! FREE! Only American Standard has OVER 140 years Savings Include an An In-Home of experience and offers the Liberation Walk-In Bathtub. American Standard Evaluation Will SUPERIOR DESIGN! Right Height Toilet Be Scheduled Ultra low easy entry and exit design, wide door, FREE! ($500 Value) At Your Earliest built-in safety bar and textured floor provides a safer bathing experience. Convenience PATENTED QUICK-DRAIN® TECHNOLOGY LIFETIME WARRANTY! The ONLY Lifetime Warranty on the bath AND installation, INCLUDING labor backed by American Standard. 44 HYDROTHERAPY JETS! More than any other tub we’ve seen. Limited Time Offer! Call Today! 855-508-4077 Or Visit: www.AmericanStandardBath.com Discount applied at time of purchase. Terms and Conditions Apply. * Subject to 3rd party credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. Receive a free American Standard Cadet Toilet with full installation of a Liberation Walk-In Bath, Liberation Shower, or Deluxe Shower. Offer valid only while supplies last. Limit one per household. Must be first time purchaser. All offers subject to change prior to purchase. See www.AmericanStandardBathtubs.com for other restrictions and for licensing, warranty, and company information. * CSLB B982796; Suffolk NY:5543IH; NYC:HIC#2022748-DCA. Safety Tubs Co. LLC does not sell in Nassau NY, Westchester NY, Putnam NY, Rockland NY.

tm other people. He entered their hearts but for all of its people—and that the and souls, and he knew how they felt. country would be an example for others INCREASE AFFECTION And he came to love the men as much as across the world, should they choose to they did him. In a letter to Emerson, he embrace it. Created by wrote that, in the hospitals, he got to “be Winnifred Cutler, welcome and useful, I find the masses After Emerson brought him to a boil, Ph.D. in biology fully justified by closest contact, never and he produced Leaves of Grass, Whit- from U. of Penn, vulgar, ever calm, without greediness, man sent a copy to the sage of Concord. post-doc Stanford. no flummery, no frivolity—responding Emerson wrote back what may be the Co-discovered electric and without fail to affection, most generous letter ever sent by one human pheromones yet no whining—not the first unmanly great writer to another. Remember: Whit- whimper have yet I seen or heard.” man was a nobody. Emerson could read- in 1986 ily have consigned the book to the trash Whitman speaks to our moment in heap. Remember: In “Song of Myself ” (Time 12/1/86; and many ways. One of them is quite simple: Whitman achieves poetically everything Newsweek 1/12/87) At a time when Americans hate one that Emerson wished to achieve (and another across partisan lines as intensely Author of 8 books perhaps as they have since the Civil War, “I am very happy in on wellness Whitman’s message is that hate is not reading it, as great compatible with true democracy, spiri- power makes us happy,” PROVEN EFFECTIVE IN 3 DOUBLE BLIND tual democracy. We may wrangle and Emerson wrote of STUDIES IN PEER REVIEW JOURNALS fight and squabble and disagree. Up to a Leaves of Grass. certain point, Whitman approved of con- INCREASES YOUR flict. But affection—friendliness—must more). Remember: Emerson offered always define the relations between us. the road map and Whitman followed ATTRACTIVENESS When that affection dissolves, the first it. Emerson could well have melted into order of business is to restore it. Looking jealousy when he read “Song of Myself,” Unscented Athena 10X tm For Men $99.50 at the present, Whitman might insist not and pretended not to see what was there Fragrance Additives 10:13 tm For Women $98.50 only on bonds of affection in our country, before him. but on a more sane relation to Jesus and Cosmetics Free U.S. Shipping to God. To abase oneself before them That is not what happened. Of the would count to him as a serious error. 1855 Leaves of Grass, Emerson said: “I But to ridicule the teachings of Jesus and find it the most extraordinary piece of those who follow him, or to make light wit and wisdom that America has yet of God’s luminous but incomprehensible contributed. I am very happy in reading presence in the world—that too would be it, as great power makes us happy.” It a mistake. makes us happy, that is, if we can recog- nize it for what it asserts and what it asks Perhaps what Whitman mainly offers of us, as Emerson did, and not turn away. is hope—the hope that this new form of “It has the best merits,” Emerson wrote, social life can prosper and give people “namely, of fortifying and encouraging.” access to levels of happiness and free- dom that they have never enjoyed. Whit- So it did then. So it may now. man was not programmatically cheerful, not a grinning optimist. He was badly Mark Edmundson teaches English at the depressed when Leaves of Grass failed in University of Virginia. He is working on a its earliest incarnations to reach people. book about Whitman and democracy. He was horribly downcast as he saw the Civil War gathering. But he never withdrew his hope that America could be a thriving nation not only for some, ♥ Rita (CA) 9 orders “I love this 10:13 pheromone! The Atlantic (ISSN 1072-7825), recognized as the same publication under The Atlantic Monthly or Atlantic Monthly (The), is published monthly except for combined issues in January/February and July/August by The Atlantic Monthly Group, I have been using it for years and it helped me 600 New Hampshire Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037 (202-266-6000). Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., Toronto, Ont., and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send all UAA to CFS (see DMM 707.4.12.5); NONPOSTAL get married. People react to me, especially AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to Atlantic Address Change, P.O. Box 37564, Boone, IA 50037- 0564. Printed in U.S.A. Subscription queries: Atlantic Customer Care, P.O. Box 37564, Boone, IA 50037-0564 (or call men. Everything is easier.” Rec’d 3/7/18 800-234-2411). Privacy: we make portions of our customer list available to carefully screened companies that offer products and services we believe you may enjoy. If you do not want to receive this information, please write to the ♥ Don (CA) 23 orders. “At parties, Customer Care address above. Advertising (646-539-6700) and Circulation (800-234-2411): 600 New Hampshire I’ll invariably end up surrounded Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20037. Subscriptions: one year $39.95 in the U.S. and poss., add $8.00 in Canada, includes by women. The Athena 10X GST (123209926); add $15.00 elsewhere. Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement 41385014. Canada return address: claims are absolutely true.” The Atlantic, P.O. Box 1051, Fort Erie, ON L2A 6C7. Back issues: send $7.50 per copy to The Atlantic, Back Issues, 1900 Industrial Park Dr., Federalsburg, MD 21632 (or call 410-754-8219). Vol. 323, No. 4, May 2019. Copyright © 2019, by Not in stores 610-827-2200 The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved. Athenainstitute.com Athena Institute, 1211 Braefield Rd., Chester Spgs, PA 19425 ATM 110 MAY 2019 THE ATLANTIC

An Important Message To Readers: “I’m wearing a watch that can save my life.” 1# Ranked by 10+ independent review sites Get help with the press Stay safe, active & independent of this button with the Freedom Guardian™ Smartwatch. This newest advancement in medical alert technology is a sleek watch with state-of-the-art features that can help you maintain the lifestyle and freedom you love. With easy-to-read icons on a simple touch screen, Freedom Guardian is the latest innovation from Medical Guardian. Our Emergency Trained Response Operators have helped hundreds of thousands of older Americans live their lives safely – without limits – since 2005. No long-term contracts or hidden fees. • 24/7 • Stay • Never miss • Get 3-day emergency connected medications local protection to loved or events weather sends help ones with thanks to forecasts to your exact speech audible right on location texting – no calendar your wrist using GPS/ keyboard alerts and WiFi needed reminders Limited-Time Call 1-800-943-9213 Today FREE OFFER!* or visit medicalguardian.com/offermg  FREE 1 Month Service ($50 value)  FREE Lockbox ($25 value)  FREE Ground Shipping Use Code PRINT when ordering *Limited time offer. For new customers only. Must purchase annual subscription term. Service, product, & equipment availability, fees, & pricing may vary. Standard rates apply after the promotional period expires. Offer subject to change. Other fees may apply. Other restrictions apply.

THE BIG QUESTION Q: What is the greatest act of courage? Underground Railroad, rights of girls and women Harriet Tubman risked around the world after an Roger Moorhouse, author, Deborah Lipstadt, historian re-enslavement and death assassination attempt and The Devils’ Alliance: by returning to the South continued threats. Hitler’s Pact With Stalin, In April 1943, the first urban in at least 19 trips, to guide 1939–1941 uprising against the Nazis as many as 300 enslaved Sarah Kersey, Denville, N.J. It is hard to top the incredible began in the Warsaw Ghetto. African Americans to Colin Kaepernick’s bravery of Witold Pilecki, A few hundred poorly freedom. She also guided unwavering dedication a Polish soldier who in armed young Jews held African-American Union sol- to taking a knee during 1940 volunteered to join out for three weeks. The diers during the Combahee the playing of the national a German roundup so that fighters knew they could not Ferry Raid, which freed more anthem, to the point of being he could report on what was “win”; they intended, as one than 700 enslaved people. blacklisted by the NFL. going on inside a newly estab- put it, “to pick the time and lished concentration camp. place of our deaths.” Nino Campana, Sault Michael Kristofik, That camp was Auschwitz. Ste. Marie, Ontario Rhinebeck, N.Y. That of the “tank man” Stanislav Petrov’s decision Heath Hardage Lee, author, Samantha Allen, author, protester in Tiananmen in September 1983 to do The League of Wives Real Queer America Square. The second- nothing in response to a On May 2, 1966, the Ameri- The German physician greatest act of courage nuclear-attack signal from can prisoner of war Jere- Magnus Hirschfeld, born a was that of the driver who the Russian radar likely miah Denton was forced century before the Stonewall stopped the tank. averted a nuclear war. by his North Vietnamese riots, advocated for gay and captors to film a propaganda transgender rights and was Michael E. Zuller, Ann McCluskey, video. He signaled the pilloried in the press as “a Great Neck, N.Y. South Burlington, Vt. abuse POWs were freak who acted for freaks”; Neil Armstrong’s first step The signers of the suffering by blinking his research was burned. He onto the lunar surface, Declaration of Indepen- T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse died in exile, but his radical, or perhaps his final step into dence pledged their lives, code. Denton knew he humanizing ideas survived. the rocket ship that would their fortunes, and their risked beatings and other take him there. sacred honor to the cause severe reprisals, but he still READER RESPONSES of independence, and chose to “blow it wide open.” Lucia Perri, Guthrie, Okla. meant it. Maida Follini, Halifax, Anita Hill’s Senate testi- Ben Edlund, writer and Nova Scotia mony. Her ordeal led to the Want to see your name on this page? creator, The Tick After escaping slavery via the 1992 Year of the Woman. Her Email [email protected] Socrates’ aplomb while courage inspired Christine with your response to the question drinking the hemlock Blasey Ford and the women for our July/August issue: What lost that would poison him. of the #MeToo movement to treasure would you most like to find? I first heard the story as a speak truth to power. kid, and by now I’ve spent more time worrying about Sterling S. Haukom his death sentence than it Anderson, Chicago, Ill. appears he did. Malala Yousafzai’s stand- ing up for the education 112 MAY 2019 THE ATLANTIC Illustrations by GRAHAM ROUMIEU

THE PROMISE OF A SMARTER HOME, DELIVERED BY USPS. Every day, visionaries are creating the devices of the future, but they need people who really know how to deliver them. The USPS delivers more online purchases to homes than anyone else in the country. We deliver for you.® See how at USPS.com/visionary © 2018 United States Postal Service. All Rights Reserved. The Eagle Logo is among the many trademarks of the U.S. Postal Service®. Please recycle packaging materials whenever possible.