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John Neal

American Writers is an 1824–25 work of literary criticism by American writer and critic John Neal (pictured). Published by Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, it is the first history of American literature and the first substantial work of criticism concerning US authors. Using no reference materials, Neal made incorrect assertions about many of the more than 120 authors covered. Scholars nevertheless praise the staying power of his opinions, many reflected by critics decades later. Neal also argued American literature relied too much on British precedent and had failed to develop its own voice. Neal wrote the series in London under the English pseudonym of "Carter Holmes", which convinced few. American Writers was well received in the UK but drew considerable ire in the US, particularly from William Lloyd Garrison. Neal was met with hostility and a fistfight on an 1827 visit to his hometown of Portland, Maine; he relocated there and remained until his death forty-nine years later. (Full article...)

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On this day

December 18: National Day in Qatar (1878)

Atlas rocket carrying SCORE

1622 – Portuguese forces and their Imbangala allies defeated the Kongo army at the Battle of Mbumbi.
1932 – Playing indoors at Chicago Stadium on a modified American football field, the Chicago Bears defeated the Portsmouth Spartans in the first playoff game of the National Football League.
1958 – The United States launched SCORE (rocket pictured), the world's first communications satellite.
1963 – Ghanaian and other African students organized a protest in Moscow's Red Square in response to the alleged murder of medical student Edmund Assare-Addo.
2017 – An Amtrak Cascades passenger train derailed near DuPont, Washington, killing three people and injuring sixty-five others.

Yaonian Yanmujin (d. 933)
Edith of Wessex (d. 1075)
Ty Cobb (b. 1886)
Keith Richards (b. 1943)

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A series of volcanic eruptions has been ongoing in the Reykjanes Peninsula, near the town of Grindavík, Iceland, since 18 December 2023. The eruptions, of which there have been seven so far, began after an intense series of earthquakes in November 2023. Although localised, seismic and volcanic activity has caused significant disruption across the western part of the peninsula, especially for the town of Grindavík. This Icelandic Meteorological Office photograph, taken on 18 December 2023, shows the first eruption in the series, in the Sundhnúksgígar crater chain.

Photograph credit: Icelandic Meteorological Office

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