The land is bright

National Review has published a symposium in its latest issue called What We Love About America. The thirty-one contributors include Richard Brookhiser, Joseph Epstein, Mark Helprin, Megan McArdle, Lance Morrow, John Podhoretz, Kevin Williamson, and—yes—me. My piece is called “Western Movies”:

Taken together, the best Hollywood westerns come as close as anything ever has to comprising America’s creation myth, a tale of brave men and women who rode toward Monument Valley to make better lives for themselves and their children. Of course we all know it wasn’t as clear-cut as that, which is what makes their story mythic: It’s what we want to believe about American history. But if it isn’t all true, neither is it all false…

Read the whole thing here.