时代精神

his July will be the two-hundred- fiftieth birthday of the Declara- tion of Independence, but for me, the far more notable occasion is the fiftieth anniversary of the great and glorious bicentennial celebration of 1976. None of us personally remembers the American Revolution, but the tri- umphant, red-white-and-blue-soaked summer of ’76 is something that people of my generation will never forget: the fantastic outpouring of bicentennial- themed products, the commemorative coins and stamps, the fireworks dis- plays, the restaurant where my father and I went on the afternoon of July 4, Winstead’s, on the Plaza in Kansas City, where we ordered for the first time ever the special, extra-large ice-cream soda that was big enough for everyone at the table. …