Professor Jimbo is BACK!
I'll be honest, after releasing The Chinese Revolution - Good Thing, Bad Thing?, I thought that Professor Jimbo had given his final lecture. You can kind of tell he was ready hang up his tweed patched jacket in the closing moments of that video.
He was tired. Our videos are beloved by those who have watched them, but our beloved audience remains fairly small. This project remains fun, but it can also be very time consuming when you have real life responsibilities to manage and the Professor is quite old, you know.
A few weeks after releasing the Chinese Revolution video, the most I could get the Professor to commit to moving forward was that he'd take a nice, long, hiatus and we'd re-evaluate in 2024. And that remained our plan until . . . a former student of his released a book Democracy or Republic?: The People and the Constitution.
Upon reading Jay Cost's fifth published work (which you should go buy), The Professor sent me a faxed note to let me know that he would be preparing a formal review of his former pupil's work and that it would be, in his words, "a scathing takedown of this little dweeb".
When I contacted Mr. Cost to inform him of Professor O'Flannery's fortcoming critique, he responded with the following: "What? Who? Ohhhh f*ck." and "That miserable old sob?! I'd have guessed he was dead by now!" (an actual quote).
A couple of weeks later, I received a package of VHS tapes and crate filled with audio reels containing the thoughts (and ramblings) about Mr. Cost's book. The video you see above is the best I could do with the given materials.
We hope you enjoy and encourage you to BUY Democracy or Republic?: The People and the Constitution. I've purchased it myself. It's a pleasurable read with important lessons and a sobering message.
Jay Cost is a brilliant historian, fantastic writer and an even better person. He has a terrific sense of humor and he is the type of guy you should be rooting for. At minimum, you should support his work because was able to rouse Professor Jimbo out of retirement (mainly out of petty, envious, revenge).
Go buy his book, happy Friday, God bless you and God bless America.