Growing up, for the Fourth of July or Memorial Day or even just a summertime block party, my parents made a point of playing Lee Greenwood’s song “God Bless the USA.” Veterans loved the message that America had lofty ideals and they were worth dying for. So it was probably outside with a cheeseburger in my hand on some fateful day thirty years ago that I first realized a song could be, in a meaningful way, American. I discovered my own versions of this as I grew up, as we all do. (My parents certainly never played “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream.”) Today, contributor Alan Light takes on the monumental task of making the definitive list of the Most American Songs. He set some ground rules, including ruling out anything with “America” in the title or chorus, so Greenwood is out, though (spoiler!) Dylan is not. It’s a great list. Check it out below. Then queue it up at a bbq. —Kevin Dupzyk, features director
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Covering this much ground in twenty-five slots is an impossible task. We did it anyway.
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“Of all nations,” wrote Walt Whitman, “the United States with veins full of poetical stuff most need poets and will doubtless have the greatest and use them the greatest.”
This prediction in 1855—exactly 100 years before Little Richard recorded “Tutti Frutti”—turned out to be truer than Whitman could have dreamed. He probably didn’t anticipate, though, that the most powerful American poetry would come from its songwriters. With the creation of jazz, blues, gospel, and country music, and the synthesis of those forms into rock ‘n’ roll and hip-hop, styles invented in the U.S. consistently shook up the world. As the nation approaches its 250th birthday, it is our music that best tells our story.
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Chances are you’ve never seen hundreds of grooming products laid out on the table of a conference room as a group of eager editors hovers overhead, ready to snatch up each new release and take it home for extensive testing. Around the Esquire offices, though, it’s not such a novel sight. Each year, we endeavor to identify the very best stuff in the worlds of skin care, hair care, body care, fragrance, and so much more.
This year, we went big, tapping a larger-than-ever group of testers to try out hundreds of new releases and winnow the list down to the winners of our latest annual Grooming Awards. Below, you’ll find 94 products, all vetted by experts and deemed the best in their class.
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It must be summer, because Steven Spielberg has a blockbuster in theaters. Arguably our greatest living director—the now-79-year-old behind Jaws, Jurassic Park, and Saving Private Ryan—is back with Disclosure Day, a mysterious sci-fi epic. Now, while it doesn’t land among our ranking of the best movies in Spielberg’s storied career, rest assured: It’s a good time. (Especially if you want to see Emily Blunt speak fluently in all matter of languages.)
But yes, reader, we took on the epic task of ranking all of Spielberg’s films, from worst to best. Of course, there’s not really a wrong answer when it comes to naming your favorite Spielberg film—I’m an ET guy, through and through—but it’s nearly impossible to put Saving Private Ryan against Schindler’s List, or even The Post versus Bridge of Spies. Especially Jaws versus Jurassic Park.
No matter how you feel about where your favorite Spielberg film landed, I just have one simple request: Be good. Below is our ranking of every Steven Spielberg movie, from worst to best.
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