I've just finished this biography of William Jennings Bryan by Michael Kazin. Although I am not an American history fan I was fascinated by the similarities between American politics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and our own times. Le plus ce change, le plus ce meme chose.

It would appear that there is little difference in the politics of the two times and the opposing poles of the religious and the secular. It made me begin to read the new biography of Lincoln by Richard Carwardine. The similarity is again striking. I shall write more about Lincoln after I have finished it. I am struck by the way in which he "used" a religion which he personally did not profess in order to gain political power. There is a chilling thread here. More later.