ralph waldo emerson comes into the white house and lincoln talks to him. >> superficially and in many ways is a heroic celebration of the midnight ride of paul revere and revolutionary war. the context was longfellow, he was a timid guy and weary of engaging in politics but was a very good friend with paul sumner who was an outspoken abolitionists. from 1850s through the '60s, longfellow was more and more taken up with abolitionist and the institution of slavery so he sort of infused with this fashion i have to do something about it. he had several years earlier written poetry about slavery. midnight ride of paul revere is to warn of the red coats coming. the passion is infuses is about ending slavery and the cause of the union. so, if you read it through and actual actually -- jill lapore goes through, there are many references through the poem, you know, they go back past a cemete cemetery, paul revere does on his ride, a cemetery only for the black dead. he talks about a hanging of a slave. the whole idea is whoa are engaged in this moment, the early 1860s, that is a threat to the

to study american intellectual and cultural history, i felt compelled -- ralph waldo emerson, margaret fuller, john do we, time for me to find myself back on intellectual grounds. to the side. the we find how difficult that will be an american intellectual life. in the american academy and higher education. nietzsche's philosophy featured -- and the humanities and social sciences. there wasn't a university library for major bookstores that doesn't have nietzsche section. as we wind up the intellectual world of the academy was i was foiled in my effort to move away from nietzsche and move back to my america. and it was unmistakable that this nineteenth century german philosopher was a towering public intellectual. coffee cups and t-shirts and aphorisms as on bumper stickers and tote bags, and slave and master morality, and morning papers and advertisements. and contemporary novels from tom wolfe to scott perot and television shows and movies, the simpson's legal conan the barbarian leader still a fish called wanda, recent shows and that includes the sopranos and the day after tomorrow,

some of the writer's features include some of the greats, mark twain, nathaniel hawthorne, ralph waldo emerson and others. joining us to talk about the issue is atlantic's editor james bennett and deputy editor. gentlemen, thank you for joining us. >> thanks for having us. >> the commemorative issue, less talk about "the atlantic." it has a great history that goes back to the civil war. how does abolition and abolitionist movement play into the founding of the magazine? >> we had a wonderful time putting this issue together partly because we love these pieces and partly because it gave us the opportunity to reconnect with the founding history of the magazine. atlantic published its first in november of 1857 in boston. the magazine was basically created by a group ofwriters who came together with two fundamental purposes. one was to capture what they saw as an emerging voice -- an emerging american voice in letters, one their own voice. the other was to abolish slavery. they were very committed abolitionist. this was a very radical idea still. they were interested in promoting the founding of a

and so i felt compelled to turn back to my american thinkers ralph waldo emerson, margaret fuller, w.e.b. du bois, john, i thought it was time for me to find myself back on the american intellectual native ground. but in my effort to put neitzsche to the sight i can to discover how difficult it was going to be in that every american intellectual life especially in the american academy, in higher education the philosophies featured prominently in monograph, journals and university courses in all fields of the humanities and social sciences. there wasn't a university library or major bookstore that didn't have the section. but even as i waded out from the intellectual world of the academy, i was repeatedly flailed in my efforts to move away to my america. even the most casual survey of american culture of the time needed unmistakeable that this 19th century german philosopher was a towering public intellectual and contemporary american life. he was everywhere. images of the imposing mustache on the coffee cup and t-shirts, his aphorisms from our bumper stickers, his freesias, his concept l

it was also during this period he was rereading one of his favorite philosophers, ralph waldo emerson, and thanks to his renewed inspiration, used an emerson quotation for the book's epigraph. how fitting, then, that while writing his philosophical love letter to his american hero that a second letter should arrive there the states, indeed from the very native grounds of the sage of concord. in a letter from boston dated may 29, 1882, a professional violinist wrote to nietzsche to express as he put it, quote, my most humble thanks for the benefit i have derived from your works and the wish which i've long entertained to possess a likeness, be it ever so small, of the man i have learned to adore for the greatness of his mind and the sincerity of his utterances. bear in mind that was a translation from a german sentence, so this was actually quite an elegant sentence in the original. so this letter is used also as an occasion to tell nietzsche that he had such admiration for an essay that he had written in his untimely meditations that dan outer had, as he put it, translated it, quote,