Jonathon Sturgeon

1 month ago | harpers.org | Jonathon Sturgeon

Kentuckiana is cursed. François-René de Chateaubriand, on vacation from the French Revolution, coursed down the Ohio River and got misty-eyed about the “magnificent country” of Kentucky, “which means ‘river of blood,’ ” he would scribble, wrongly. The lamplight of Louisville, seen from the river, became a chain of beacon fires bringing news from Old Europe, where King Louis XVI, who gave the city its name, would be beheaded.