Aaron Burr at 255: Still Ticking People Off

Repeatedly over the last several months, Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota has blamed Aaron Burr for her lurch to the Far Right.  Her epiphany came during her college years in the 1970s, when she read of Burr’s jaundiced view of the true character of the men who founded the country. “He was going after our founders,” she said…

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Stanley Nelson, Hero

There are unassuming folks around us who do great things.  Stanley Nelson is one of those people.  The editor of the weekly Concordia Sentinel in northeast Louisiana, Nelson has for several years conducted a crusade to track down and bring to justice those who terrorized civil rights activists in the 1960s. I met Stanley when…

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American Emperor: October 4!

We now have a schedule and a cover!  Simon & Schuster will release my new book on October 4:  American Emperor:  Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America.  The book explores the story of Burr’s audacious “Western conspiracy,” which involved an invasion of Mexico and Florida, or an insurrection in New Orleans, or the secession of the Western…

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Washington Independent Review of Books — Launched

I invite you to visit The Washington Independent Review of Books (http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/), the newest voice in the community of readers and writers.  We are launching The Independent today as a website dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books.  Today you’ll find reviews of a biography of America’s chief spook during World…

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Violence and Andrew Jackson

I have posted at Huffington Post a quick overview of the longstanding tradition of violence among our political leaders.  Indeed, our leaders have included some bloody and short-tempered folks, from Burton Gwinnett in 1777 to Strom Thurmond in 1964. I decided to leave out our most violent national leader, Andrew Jackson.  Sure, Jackson did kill a man in a duel, Charles…

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