Are You Ready for Some Sesquicentennial?
It may end up seeming as long as the Civil War itself. We are warming up for the extended observance of the 150th anniversary of the War Between the States. (“Celebration” seems the wrong word when talking of an event that killed 600,000 Americans.) Today my gastroenterologist — yes, I have one, don’t you? — engaged me in…
Read MoreTeddy the Historian-President
Books about Theodore Roosevelt are booming these days, including the third volume of Edmund Morris’ biography, the immense treatment of Roosevelt’s conservation record by Douglas Brinkley, and a volume (forthcoming at an undetermined date) from Doris Kearns Goodwin. Indeed, in May Smithsonian Press issued a heavily edited version of TR’s own History of the United States. Roosevelt, as the…
Read MoreHistorians at the Helm
As I read (really, listened to as a book-on-CD) a recent short biography of Winston Churchill by Paul Johnson, I found myself thinking about the two historian-leaders of the modern era in the West — Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt. Both were remarkable leaders and remarkable historians. Churchill’s lifelong output of the written word was, according…
Read MoreJudge Porteous in Trouble
I just wrote about the final witness in the Senate committee proceedings for the impeachment of Judge G. Thomas Porteous of New Orleans. Not a good way for the judge to end his presentation.
Read MoreElmore Leonard Did Not Make It Up
The Senate impeachment trial of Judge G. Thomas Porteous of New Orleans — which you can watch this week on live webcast — has presented a fabulous cast of characters straight out of an Elmore Leonard novel. The opening day involved testimony by two Louisiana law partners, Jake Amato and Robert Creely. Former colleagues and law…
Read MoreNot for 21 years
On Monday morning, September 13, the Senate Impeachment Trial Committee is supposed to begin its evidentiary hearing about whether to remove District Judge G. Thomas Porteous from office. It is 21 years since the last impeachment trial before a Senate committee, for which I was the lead defense lawyer. It involved Judge Walter L. Nixon, Jr. of…
Read MoreFinally: "The Summer of 1787" in Arabic!
The Kalima Project, an Abu Dhabi organization which translates Western works into Arabic in order increase understanding between the Western and Muslim worlds, has just announced its publication of The Summer of 1787 in Arabic translation. Extremely cool.
Read MoreStart-up: New On-line Book Review
In September, the AIW Freedom to Write Fund will attempt to organize and launch an on-line book review. We need web designers, editors, enthusiastic readers, and — of course — reviewers. The following notice went out to late last week to invite participants. A message to all AIW Members from David Stewart, President of the…
Read MoreReclaiming King Richard III
So who killed the two little princes in the Tower of London in 1485? Having just reread Josephine Tey’s wonderful The Daughter of Time, first published in 1951, I am newly impressed with the power of an old mystery when subjected to careful reasoning. Tey, whose real name was Elizabeth MacKintosh, chose an enduring legend of…
Read MoreGingrich, Nazis, and the Manhattan Mosque
I got fed up, over on Huffington Post, with Brother Newt’s most recent fallacious adventure in analogy-land: Muslim community center + 2 blocks from ground zero = Nazis + 2 blocks from Holocaust Museum The analogy only works if a Muslim community center is the same as a Nazi party building. That is, the analogy is totally…
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