American Sentimentalist is a blog dedicated to what the writer calls a “belief about the still-possible redeeming qualities of what used to be called America.” Mark, the writer, is a freelance writer, and the fact that he gets paid to write is evident in his blog entries. It is rare to have the opportunity to review a blog that uses language, rational thought, and punctuation so beautifully.
The blog is really about current events, mostly about the foibles of the current U.S. administration. Mark has a very good grasp on the situation and writes excellent, thoughtful articles and, like any good journalist, links to the sources of his information. I can’t find a single thing to complain about except to say that I wish I’d written most of his entries.
Unfortunately, American Sentimentalist does have some design flaws. While I wouldn’t expect Mark to test to make sure his blog looks good in every imaginable browser, it would be a good idea to make sure it looks good in the main two – Netscape and MSIE. It looks fine in Netscape, but is the design is seriously skewed in MSIE*. The sidebar is shown underneath all the entries and it doesn’t look good. Other than that, the design of the blog is very spartan.
A nice feature at American Sentimentalist is the ability to sign up for a weekly update. Mark also keeps a list of news sources and blogs he reads. There’s a good About Me type of page.
I will definitely visit American Sentimentalist again. The writing is excellent and Mark provides some beautifully written political commentary.
* Editors Note: The page loads fine in IE if your screen resolution is set to 1024×768 or higher.The American Sentimentalist