The cultivation of civic virtue in America depends on artists and entertainers who imaginatively portray the human condition, honestly question the American regime, and constructively represent embodied civic virtue—whether in World of Warcraft, The Wire, Scandal, or elsewhere.

The first of a five-part epistolary exchange between the actor Richard Dreyfuss and Providence associate editor Susannah Black exploring such issues as the potential of civics education to combat the appeal of groups like ISIS, the place of religion in public life, and the roots of the ideas of the American founding.