Just over 103 years ago, a German immigrant who grew up in Charleston published a flowery analysis of South Carolina as part of a two-year, 48-part series by The Nation magazine. The collection showcased “the distinctive colors of life” in a project dubbed “These United States.”
Fast forward to the present. In a special two-month issue of the magazine, The Nation has another go in looking at the state of the republic in a report that’s vastly different – “These Dis-United States.”
“50 of our best writers and artists depict local textures, practices, landmarks and institutions everywhere being gutted, steamrolled, defunded, eviscerated. Here we get first hand testimony, from Maine to Hawaii, of the acceleration of a decades-long project to hollow out government at every level – and of the devastating effects of that project on our national life,” contributing editor Richard Kreitner writes in the opening essay of the magazine’s 160th anniversary issue…