Dispatches from the Road - Listening To America

DISPATCHES FROM THE ROAD

Reading Charles Dickens at the End of My Endless Summer

Monday, October 05 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

I write this as a personal letter to all of you who read my work. My work is exceedingly important to me — these weekly essays — and writing them is one of the principal joys of my life.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: Books, Humanities

Clay in front of the historic Palais de la Légion d'Honneur, on the Left Bank of the River Seine in Paris, France.

Americans in Paris: Clay’s Thomas Jefferson in France Tour

Tuesday, September 29 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

This week, Clay has been leading his fourth Jefferson in France Cultural Tour. Thomas Jefferson served as an American minister to France in the late 1780’s and considered it some of the happiest times of his life.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Humanities, Thomas Jefferson

Field Report: History and Current Challenges to Western Public Lands

Tuesday, September 22 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

Alongside archaeologist Dr. Susan Ryan, Clay co-hosted a recent cultural tour of the Four Corners region to help guests get an “on-the-ground” look at the past and future of the National Monuments and Antiquities Act.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, National Parks, Native Americans, Theodore Roosevelt

Reporting From Switzerland: a Euro-Bison Comeback. Who Knew?

Monday, September 07 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

Iconic to the American West, I was surprised to learn of a British preservation program for European bison.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Humanities, Lewis and Clark

White Cliffs of the Missouri River: Same Time Next Year!

Monday, August 03 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

I’ve just wrapped up the 26th summer leading my Lewis and Clark cultural tour. Days canoeing remote sections of the Missouri River and hiking the Bitterroot Mountains in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark never fail to inspire in me the majesty and promise of America.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Lewis and Clark, National Parks, Theodore Roosevelt

The Villa Rotonda, designed by Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect who more than anyone else inspired Jefferson and American neoclassicism architecture

Views of the American Dream From Milan, Italy

Monday, July 06 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

Surprisingly, I did not spend the Fourth of July in America this year. But being thousands of miles away made the promise of our exceptional nation clear.

Published in Dispatches from the Road

Tagged under: America at 250, Thomas Jefferson, U.S. Presidents

Wind Cave National Park

Tuesday, June 02 2026 by Clay Jenkinson

Our roving humanities scholar Clay S. Jenkinson is typically dedicated to the truth and nothing but the truth, but his visit to Wind Cave National Park seems to have addled his brain. No other visitor on his recent tour reported meeting Dante and Virgil at the Seventh Circle of the cave.