Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick is joined by Dr. Joseph Boyne to discuss Flannery O'Connor's "Enduring Chill" as part of Short Story September.

Visit thegreatbookspodcast.com for our reading schedule, articles, and a whole host of written guides.

Asbury Fox, the failed New York writer who returns home to his mother’s dairy farm convinced he is dying a tragic, Kafka-esque death, meets a rural doctor, two farmhands who refuse to share his resentment, and a deaf, one-eyed priest from Purrgatory who simply walks him through the Baltimore Catechism. What begins as another Southern Gothic confrontation with pride becomes something rarer in O’Connor: a dark comedy in which the protagonist desires of a romantic death are met with an enduring chill.

Dr. Boyne and Dcn. Garlick draw out the story’s autobiographical shadows, its critique of performative liberalism and abstract love of humanity, and the way O’Connor uses both the Jesuit in New York and the homely Father Finn to insist that meaning—and grace—cannot be manufactured from the self. The conversation lingers on the water-stain dove that descends as ice rather than fire, the question of whether the tale is comic or merely purgatorial, and what it means for those of us who prize the Great Books that education, by itself, is never enough.

Listeners who have been scarred by “The Lame Shall Enter First” will find this one far easier to finish—and far more unsettling in its quiet demand that we keep living.

Chapters

00:05 — Podcast intro and the reading plan for Short Story September

01:01 — Introducing Enduring Chill and Dr. Joseph Boyne

03:21 — Why Dr. Boyne picked the story

05:00 — Flannery O’Connor and the Southern Gothic tradition

12:55 — The grotesque, violence, and grace in O’Connor

20:32 — Asbury returns home and the education theme

30:30 — Asbury’s desire for a meaningful death and the Jesuit in New York

41:42 — Dr. Block and Asbury’s confrontation with illness

50:00 — The dairy farm, the black workers, and failed communion

57:13 — Asking for a priest and the dream sequence

70:29 — Father Finn arrives and subverts Asbury’s expectations

80:31 — Randall and Morgan return

85:34 — Dr. Block diagnoses the illness correctly

87:40 — Final scene: the Holy Ghost in ice and the enduring chill

96:23 — Closing reflections on O’Connor and the story’s meaning

Keywords

Flannery O’Connor The Enduring Chill short story analysis, Ascend the Great Books Podcast Short Story September episode with Deacon Harrison Garlick and Dr. Joseph Boyne of Tulsa Community College, Southern Gothic literature, Catholic short stories, Christ-haunted South, Asbury Fox character study, Jesuit priest Ignatius Vogle, Father Finn from Purgatory, Baltimore Catechism, Holy Spirit as ice instead of fire, undulant fever raw milk irony, performative liberalism and racial condescension, education versus practical wisdom, grotesque as medium of grace, O’Connor comedy versus tragedy, Good Country People comparison, lupus and autobiographical elements, Great Books education critique, upcoming Plato Republic series, Robert E. Howard Red Shadows Solomon Kane, Neil Gaiman Chivalry with Archduke Eduard Habsburg, Herman Melville Bartleby the Scrivener.

Dcn. Harrison Garlick hosts a full house to discuss the short, strange, forgotten dialogue of Plato's Ion, subtitled "On the Iliad."

10 Question Written Guide on Plato's Ion

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Plato’s Ion opens with a victorious rhapsode who claims to speak more beautifully about Homer than any other human being. Socrates grants the premise that a true rhapsode must not merely recite but interpret the poet’s thought to his hearers—and then tests whether that excellence is a techne, a teachable art that should apply across all poets who treat the same subjects.

Ion fails the test. He is “asleep” except when Homer is mentioned. Socrates therefore offers another account: poets and rhapsodes work not by craft but by divine mania. The Muse is a lodestone, and poet, reciter, and audience form a chain of possession. Ion recognizes himself at once. On stage he is outside himself, and he can move twenty thousand hearers to tears and terror (with a subtle nod in the dialogue about the desire to make money...).

The dialogue then presses the distinction between speaking beautifully and speaking correctly. On charioteering, medicine, and the other arts present in Homer, the expert—not the rhapsode—speaks rightly. Unwilling to admit he has no art at all, Ion seizes the last remaining claim and declares himself the best general. The identification is absurd, and the conversation nearly collapses. Socrates leaves him a choice: to be called unjust, or divine. Ion takes the latter. Skill and inspiration remain unreconciled. What the short work has done is place poetry, possession, and the education of the city on the table—and prepare the larger judgment of the poets that the Republic will make.

Chapters

00:00 - Welcome to Ascend and overview of the episode's purpose

01:05 - Introducing Ion and the returning and first-time guests

02:29 - Erik Rostad explains Book of Titans and his lifelong reading project

06:28 - First reactions to Ion and its perplexing character

07:11 - Preliminary framing: subtitle, translation, and why the dialogue matters

10:10 - Ion's claim to be the finest speaker on Homer

11:44 - What techne means in this dialogue

20:00 - Does Ion really claim knowledge, or only beautiful performance?

23:50 - Ion's claim that no one else speaks more finely on Homer

28:37 - The question of poetry as a better educator than philosophy

31:03 - Ion admits he dozes off when other poets are discussed

38:45 - The magnet metaphor and the chain of divine influence

44:32 - Is divine inspiration irrational, or can it be a real source of truth?

55:31 - A third sense of possession: skill, demonization, and being subsumed into beauty

60:15 - Ion says he watches the crowd and adjusts for money and effect

62:49 - Does Ion have a real art, or is he just managing audience response?

70:29 - The charioteer, the physician, and whether Socrates is being fair

72:26 - Does philosophy itself become a narrow specialty in the same way?

76:03 - Why actors may be excellent performers but poor explainers of their craft

78:10 - Socrates as a guide toward self-recognition of Ion's actual techne

87:25 - Plato as storyteller and the philosopher's need for a better story

90:20 - Storytelling, parables, and the pedagogical power of narrative

92:37 - Plato's self-reflection on his own art and craft

94:36 - The unresolved tension between inspiration and skill

99:44 - Closing thanks

Keywords

Plato’s Ion, On the Iliad, Ion of Ephesus, rhapsode, Homer, Iliad, Odyssey, technē, techne, divine inspiration, mania, theia moira, magnet metaphor, lodestone, Muse, speaking beautifully, speaking correctly, kalos, orthos, Socratic dialogue, forgotten Platonic dialogues, aporetic dialogue, poetry versus philosophy, education of the city, Republic Book 10, poets as imitators, Allan Bloom, Thomas Pangle, Roots of Political Philosophy, Debra Nails, Dr. Frank Grabowski, Thomas Lackey, Jack Drury, Erik Rostad, Book of Titans, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, rhapsodic contest, Asclepieia, Epidaurus, generalship, polymathy, Plato as dramatist.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick, Dr. Larson, Dr. Grabowski, and Mr. Thomas Lackey discuss the short, strange, and forgotten dialogue of HIppias Minor or "On the Lie."

8 Questions on Hippias Minor Study Guide

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Plato’s Hippias Minor is a short, strange dialogue with a traditional subtitle that cuts straight to the point: “On the Lie.” After the boastful sophist Hippias finishes a public speech ranking Achilles the best and Odysseus the most polytropos—the man of twists and turns—Socrates is drawn into a conversation that begins with Homer and ends in one of the deepest aporias of the early dialogues.

What starts as a dispute over who is the better man, the straightforward Achilles or the wily Odysseus, quickly becomes a rigorous examination of voluntary versus involuntary wrongdoing, the nature of knowledge and power, and the unsettling claim that the man who does injustice on purpose is better than the one who does it by accident.

Deacon and the guests work through the dialogue’s sharp arguments and its surprising relevance. The conversation exposes the limits of treating virtue as mere knowledge plus power, raises the question of whether a just person might ever speak falsely for a good end, and serves as a genuine appetizer for the noble lie in the Republic.

Come listen—and discover why even Socrates, at the end, cannot agree with himself.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Hippias Minor and its Context

04:55 Setting the Scene: Hippias' Speech and Socrates' Role

09:22 Hippias' Boasts and Socrates' Irony

17:55 The Homeric Heroes: Achilles and Odysseus

25:04 Knowledge, Power, and the Art of Lying

36:15 The Distinction Between Capacity and Action

44:53 The Nature of Truth and Falsehood in Socratic Dialogue

46:43 Conclusion: What Socrates Reveals About Knowledge and Lies

02:39 Socrates' questioning of Hippias and the nature of virtue

04:55 The analogy of athletic competitions and the concept of justice

07:57 Socrates' discussion on voluntary and involuntary actions

12:05 The role of knowledge and capacity in moral actions

15:34 Hippias' understanding of justice and its relation to power

19:50 The concept of noble lies and pedagogical deception

25:04 The absence of forms and gods in the dialogue

30:14 The deeper meaning of Socratic ignorance and self-awareness

34:54 The significance of the question: Is justice knowledge or power?

39:51 Conclusion: What we learn about virtue, knowledge, and truth

Keywords

Plato’s Hippias Minor, Lesser Hippias, On the Lie, Hippias of Elis, Achilles and Odysseus, polytropos, voluntary and involuntary wrongdoing, voluntary liar, Socratic dialogue, aporetic dialogue, forgotten Platonic dialogues, noble lie, Republic, virtue is knowledge, knowledge and power, sophist, polymath, Eudicus, Embassy scene Iliad, teleology, Forms, Socratic irony, beneficial falsehood, Dr. Frank Grabowski, Dr. Brett Larson, Thomas Lackey, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, political philosophy, Allan Bloom, Roots of Political Philosophy.

Next week we discuss Plato's Ion!

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick, Dr. Larson, and Dr. Grabowski discuss Plato's Lovers--a strange, short, and somewhat forgotten dialogue seeking the definition of philosophy.

We are celebrating ONE YEAR of our sister-company, The Ascent, a top 100 Substack on Christian spirituality.

Check out our WRITTEN GUIDE to the Lovers.

Plato’s Lovers is a short, strange, and easily overlooked dialogue that asks one of the most important questions in the entire Platonic corpus: What is philosophy?

Set in a grammar school where two rival older lovers—one an athlete, the other a cultured “know-it-all”—compete for the attention of younger boys discussing astronomy, the conversation quickly becomes an erotic and educational contest. Socrates enters the scene and quietly reorders the loves on display, showing that philosophy is not the accumulation of many things, that self-knowledge must come before any claim to rule, and that the true lover of the young is the one who leads their souls toward wisdom.

In this episode of Ascend, Dcn. Garlick is joined by Dr. Grabowski and Dr. Larson to unpack the dialogue’s subtle images of the soul, its playful yet serious treatment of eros, and its surprising role as an appetizer for the Republic.

The accompanying written guide offers a clear outline, preliminary questions, and dense Q&A—perfect for first-time readers, small groups, or anyone who wants to follow the argument more carefully.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Plato's 'The Lovers'

02:07 The setting and context of the dialogue

06:19 Who is the dialogue for? Audience and purpose

11:12 The erotic dimension of philosophy and education

16:10 The strangeness of the dialogue's setting

22:02 What is philosophy? The first definitions

27:36 The analogy of athletic training and measured learning

37:25 Usefulness, goodness, and self-knowledge

41:11 The political implications and the role of the philosopher

50:11 The dramatic and rhetorical aspects of the dialogue

57:32 The aporetic ending and its significance

Keywords

Plato’s Lovers, Rival Lovers, Erastai, what is philosophy, polymathy, much learning, Socratic dialogue, aporetic dialogue, forgotten Platonic dialogues, eros, erotic education, true love of the soul, tripartite soul, music and gymnastics, mousikē, gymnastikē, self-knowledge, know thyself, Socrates as third lover, Dionysius grammar school, anonymity in Plato, via negativa, aporia, preparation for the Republic, Dr. Frank Grabowski, Dr. Brett Larson, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, Platonic education, philosophy and politics, soul craft before statecraft.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick and Dr. Grabowski discuss a short, strange, and somewhat forgotten Platonic dialogue - The Hipparchus.

Check out our 15 Q&A Written Guide to the Hipparchus - great for small groups, homeschooling, autodidacts, and more!

What begins as a simple question—“What is the love of gain?”—quickly becomes a sharp and unsettling examination of the democratic soul. With no dramatic setting and a nameless interlocutor, the dialogue feels almost like overhearing Socrates in the marketplace, pressing an ordinary Athenian citizen on whether the desire for more is always shameful, or whether the soul might rightly love higher forms of gain: nobility, honor, and even wisdom itself.

What makes the conversation especially rewarding is how Socrates deliberately chooses a shocking example—the tyrant Hipparchus—and reimagines him as a lover of wisdom who sought to educate the city. In doing so, the dialogue quietly draws a parallel between the supposed tyrant and Socrates himself, both of whom attract the youth, challenge conventional order, and are ultimately rejected by a democratic culture that cannot tolerate excellence.

Along the way, listeners encounter an early sketch of the tripartite soul, a critique of the leveling effects of egalitarianism, and an aporetic ending that leaves the interlocutor “compelled rather than persuaded.” Brief, strange, and surprisingly profound, this episode is an excellent preparation for the Republic and a compelling invitation to reconsider what the soul truly seeks.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Plato's Hipparchus and its significance

01:54 Main themes: Love of gain, democracy, and wisdom

04:03 The character of Socrates and the setting of the dialogue

06:03 Hipparchus as a figure in political myth and history

07:58 Translation choices and interpretive approaches

10:00 The dialogue's structure and lack of dramatic setting

11:56 The definition of love of gain and greed

13:54 Socrates' critique of the love of worthless things

16:06 Hipparchus as a symbol of love of wisdom and fame

18:04 The political implications of Hipparchus' love of wisdom

20:00 The role of the democratic man and the love of gain

21:49 Socrates' pedagogical method and the nature of knowledge

23:52 The significance of the tyrant example and Hipparchus' myth

26:04 The character of the interlocutor and the setting of the dialogue

28:03 The introduction of Hipparchus and its layers of meaning

30:10 The political myth of Hipparchus and its revisionist history

32:00 Hipparchus' love of wisdom and the Herms

34:08 The allegory of knowledge and the tripartite soul

35:53 The love of gain as a love of wisdom and truth

38:08 The democratic man, shame, and the pursuit of philosophy

40:00 The role of philosophers in democratic society

42:01 The character of Socrates as a gadfly and teacher

43:48 The process of being compelled towards truth

45:54 Bloom's interpretation: Socrates as a political and epistemological figure

48:00 The significance of the short dialogues for understanding Socrates

50:12 The importance of humility and piety in reading Plato

51:57 Next week's discussion: Rival Lovers and the nature of wisdom

Key words: Plato Hipparchus, love of gain, philokerdia, Socratic dialogue, political philosophy, Alan Bloom, Thomas Pangle, Roots of Political Philosophy, democratic man, egalitarianism, leveling effect, tripartite soul, thumos, nous, appetitive soul, tyrant Hipparchus, Herms, Socrates as gadfly, aporetic dialogue, compulsion versus persuasion, preparation for Plato’s Republic, philosopher-king, Great Books podcast, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, Frank Grabowski, classical education, ancient philosophy, Plato short dialogues, forgotten Platonic dialogues.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Garlick invites you into a rich, methodical exploration of eros: the primal desire to satiate in beauty and be happy.

What if the restlessness in your soul—the endless craving for more beauty, more fulfillment, more rest—is not a curse but a divine gift?

Reclaiming Holy Eros https://www.theascent.io/p/reclaiming-holy-eros

Women as Icons of God, Beauty-itself https://www.theascent.io/p/the-beauty-of-woman-as-an-icon-of

Porn as a Poor Expression of Eros https://www.theascent.io/p/the-poor-erotics-of-porn

Far from the pornographic or puritan distortions that dominate modern thinking, this ancient concept runs like a golden thread through Homer, Hesiod, Plato’s Symposium, the Old and New Testaments, the Church Fathers, Dante, and even Pope Benedict XVI’s Deus Caritas Est. Deacon shows how eros is the very question of the human condition—an upward call that moves the soul from lesser beauties to greater ones until it finds rest in Beauty itself.

Drawing on his own spiritual labors, the host walks listeners through Plato’s ladder of love, the marital imagery of God’s covenant with Israel, the Song of Songs, Christ’s union with the Church, and the harmony between erotic ascent and the self-giving love of agape. Along the way he recovers a lost grammar of desire that is both natural and supernaturally elevated by grace—one that produces virtue, fecundity, and genuine theosis. The result is not abstract theory but a living path: a latticework upon which your own understanding of restlessness, happiness, and the call to become more Christlike can grow.

Whether you have wrestled with the restlessness of the heart, wondered how pagan wisdom and Christian revelation speak to one another, or simply want a deeper vision of love that orders the soul toward God, this conversation offers something rare: a beautiful, coherent tradition that answers the deepest questions of what it means to be human. Listen, and begin the ascent.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Eros and its significance in Christian spirituality

01:54 Eros in Homer, Hesiod, and the primordial cosmos

07:12 Plato's Symposium and the ladder of love

15:07 Eros in the Old Testament: Marriage and divine love

20:00 Eros in the New Testament: Christ and the Church

30:06 Eros and the ascent to divine beauty

40:11 Eros, virtue, and happiness in Christian thought

50:02 Eros and grace: the divine ascent and participation in God

01:00:10 The harmony of eros and agape in Christian life

01:10:08 Practical implications: loving God and neighbor through eros

01:20:01 Conclusion: recovering holy eros as the heart of human and divine love

Keywords

Holy Eros, Christian eros, Plato Symposium ladder of love, divine beauty, eros and agape, Deus Caritas Est Pope Benedict XVI, Song of Songs, marital imagery God and Israel, Christ bridegroom Church bride, Ephesians 5, St Augustine restless heart, Gregory of Nyssa, bridal mysticism, Bernard of Clairvaux, John of the Cross, Diotima, ascent to God, theosis, pagan and Christian erotics, Homer Hesiod Aristotle eros, natural and supernatural love, virtue and beauty, Ascend Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, reclaiming holy eros, spiritual ascent, rest in God.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick delivers an unapologetically curmudgeonly critique of Christopher Nolan’s new film The Odyssey.

Check out our LIBRARY on the great books. https://www.patreon.com/cw/greatbooks/collections

23 Raw Thoughts on the New Odyssey Movie https://www.patreon.com/greatbooks/posts/23-quick-on-164190324

SEE OUR SCHEDULE BELOW!

Fresh off a twelve-week deep dive into Homer’s epic with thousands of listeners, Deacon argues that the movie is no mere adaptation but a modern ideological rewriting that flattens Homer’s rich characters, mutes the divine, and replaces sacred myth with progressive lessons about shame, war, race, and power.

From Odysseus reduced to a guilt-racked figure who “defies the gods,” to the deliberate recasting and reframing of Helen, Menelaus, Circe, Athena, and even guest-friendship itself, Deacon contends that Nolan’s version marries cultural illiteracy with calculated compromise—and that both the film and the culture’s eager defense of it reveal far more about us than about Homer.

Yet this is more than a film review. Deacon uses the movie as a lens to examine how stories shape a civilization’s soul, why myths matter more than mere fiction, and why Christians and lovers of the Western tradition must resist the slow leftward drift of endless compromise.

SCHEDULE

July 28, 2026 - Holy Eros: An exploration of eros in Plato, the Bible, and Christian thought

August 4, 2026 - Plato's Hipparchus

August 11, 2026 - Plato's Lovers

August 18, 2026 - Plato's Hippias Minor

August 25, 2026 - Plato's Ion

September 1, 2026 - Enduring Chill by Flannery O’Connor

September 8, 2026 - Red Shadows by Robert E. Howard

September 15, 2026 - Chivalry by Neil Gaiman

CHAPTERS (Updated)

00:00 — Intro: why this review matters

01:00 — Piety toward Homer and the problem with the film

03:05 — Why the movie is not a “conservative Trojan horse”

05:05 — The danger of relativism and compromise

07:10 — Myth vs. fiction: why adaptation matters

10:10 — Odysseus as a shame-filled hero

12:50 — Menelaus, Helen, and the film’s cultural messaging

15:30 — How Nolan flattens characters and tension

18:05 — Penelope and the loss of the rooted-bed scene

21:10 — Casting, modern language, and suspension of disbelief

23:55 — Calypso and the removal of Odysseus’s moral triumph

26:25 — Athena as shame and post-traumatic projection

29:55 — Nolan’s treatment of the Trojan War

32:55 — The Lystragonians and armor/costume criticism

35:05 — The cult of Nolan vs. the cult of Homer

37:00 — Gods, superstition, and the muted divine

39:15 — The slaughter of the suitors

41:10 — Guest-friendship, Xenia, and Christian themes

43:00 — Circe, the deer, and the soul of the crew

44:55 — Pacing, emotional investment, and the bard

KEYWORDS

Christopher Nolan Odyssey movie review, Homer Odyssey film adaptation critique, Ascend the Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, cultural illiteracy in modern cinema, myth versus fiction in storytelling, Odysseus shame and guilt, Nolan casting controversies Helen Menelaus, Circe Athena Penelope Telemachus character changes, xenia guest friendship Golden Rule, Trojan War regret in film, Defy the Gods tagline analysis, classical education and Great Books, piety toward Homer, liberalism compromise in culture, upcoming Plato Republic study, Holy Eros episode, short Platonic dialogues Hipparchus Lovers Hippias Minor Ion, Short Story September Flannery O’Connor Robert E. Howard Neil Gaiman Melville, and Western civilization sacred myths.

Today on Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick hosts Dr. Patrick Deneen to discuss his NEW BOOK: The American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals About Our Divided Souls.

Pick up the AMERICAN ODYSSEY out today!

https://a.co/d/01rpYuwt

23 Observations on the new Christopher Nolan Odyssey Movie

https://www.patreon.com/greatbooks/posts/23-quick-on-164190324

In this special episode of Ascend: The Great Books Podcast, Dcn. Garlick welcomes back renowned Notre Dame political thinker Dr. Patrick Deneen—author of Why Liberalism Failed and Regime Change—to celebrate the release of his brand-new book, The American Odyssey: What an Ancient Story Reveals About Our Divided Souls.

Fresh off a 12-week deep dive into Homer’s epic, the conversation reveals why Odysseus is the ultimate “proto-American” hero: a restless seeker torn between the hunger for home and the irresistible call of the frontier. Deneen traces this tension from the ancient text through Dante’s damning portrayal of Odysseus as a villain of forbidden knowledge, to the Renaissance reinvention of him as the triumphant explorer who metaphorically discovers America itself.

What makes this episode unmissable is how Deneen unlocks Aristotle’s radical claim that humans are political animals precisely because we are neither beasts nor gods, the “citylessness” that turns Ithaca into a Cyclopean free-for-all, and the startling parallels between Odysseus’ refusal of immortality and Huck Finn’s decision to “go to hell.”

Pairing iconic American stories like The Wizard of Oz, Field of Dreams, and Huckleberry Finn with Homer’s timeless episodes, Deneen shows that the Western tradition isn’t locked in dusty classics—it’s alive in our movies, novels, and national character, especially as America marks its 250th anniversary. Dive in and discover how an ancient tale of departure and return still maps the divided soul of a nation that can’t stop exploring… or longing for home.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to Dr. Patrick Deneen and the Book

01:54 Deneen's Return to Homer and the Odyssey

03:59 Odysseus as a Proto-American Figure

06:59 The Tension Between Flourishing and Discontent

12:07 Odysseus and the Pioneering Spirit of America

19:02 The Shift in Odysseus' Image from Medieval to Renaissance

27:01 Odysseus as a Figure of Forbidden Knowledge

34:08 The Connection Between Odysseus and Columbus

40:02 The Polis and Citylessness in Homer and Aristotle

48:07 The Return of the Polis and the Homecoming

56:06 Huckleberry Finn as an Odyssean American Hero

59:45 The Western Tradition in Popular Culture

Key words: Ascend Great Books Podcast, Deacon Harrison Garlick, Dr Patrick Deneen, The American Odyssey book, Homer Odyssey, Odysseus proto-American hero, Why Liberalism Failed, Regime Change, Western tradition, Aristotle Politics, man political animal, apolis citylessness, Dante Inferno Odysseus villain, Renaissance explorers, Columbus Amerigo Vespucci, American character, pioneering spirit, frontier homecoming, Calypso immortality, Huckleberry Finn, Field of Dreams, Wizard of Oz, 250th anniversary Declaration of Independence, Notre Dame political science, Homeric studies, great books podcast, Platonic dialogues, American soul, divided souls, political theory, classical literature, Americana, Odyssey episodes.