In this four-part series on American literature, the author explores what it means to be American through the works of Hawthorne, Emerson, Melville, and Dickinson.

In "The Daemon in Mr. Bloom," the discussion revolves around T.S. Eliot's views on race, religion, and anti-Semitism in 1933, contrasting with the Jewish scholar Harold Bloom's upbringing and literary influences.