A Message To America From Mid-19th Century Russia
Leo Tolstoy wrote:When I read your letter it seemed to me impossible that I could send any message to the American people. But thinking over at night, it came to me that, if I had to address the American people, I should like to thank them for their writers who flourished about the (18)50’s. I would mention Garrison, (Theodore) Parker, Emerson, Ballou and Thoreau, not as the greatest, but as those who I think specially influenced me. Other names are (Ellery) Channing, Whittier, Lowell, Walt Whitman–a bright constellation, such as is rarely to be found in the literatures of the world.
And I should like to ask the American people why they do not pay more attention to these voices (hardly to be replaced by those of financial and industrial millionaires, or successful generals and admirals), and continue the good work in which they made such hopeful progress.
Dear Leo,
If you could look forward 170 years and were able to see what we mean currently by “Make America Great Again,” I’m sure you’d do your best to forget you’d ever heard of the United States.
