One Perilous Joy of the Season
I vividly recall the Christmas morning. My father opened the book I had carefully picked out for him. I hadn’t read it, but I thought it would be perfect for…
Read MoreWhy F. Scott?
This morning brings the inaugural installment of a monthly piece I’ll be writing for the Washington Independent Review of Books. The subjects will be what I’m reading, writing, or thinking about.…
Read MoreFive Books on Impeachment
The conservative-inspired “Impeach Obama” campaign will wax and wane over the next two political years, a weird residue of the benighted effort to impeach President Bill Clinton fifteen years ago.…
Read MoreWWI: Who was the enemy?
As the World War I centennial continues to gear up, and as I slouch to the end of my novel on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, I have stumbled…
Read MoreWorld War I: Fragging Officers and PTSD?
The sequel to my historical novel, The Lincoln Deception, is set at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919. Accordingly, I’ve been doing some considerable reading about World War I and the peace…
Read MoreNine Breeds of Historical Fiction
[This piece first appeared in the Washington Independent Review of Books] Historical fiction is flourishing, and its advantages are many. For readers, it combines the familiar with the unknown, as novelists…
Read MoreFear of the Shallows
Looking back over the year just ended, I am struck by the proliferation of door-stopper books. This phenomenon — which afflicted both fiction and non-fiction — emerged in many of…
Read More"The Lincoln Deception" on Audible.com
Audible.com has finally listed the audiobook version of The Lincoln Deception, narrated by L.J. Ganser. I’m a huge fan of audiobooks, and listen to them all the time in the car, even…
Read MoreThe Booth Conspiracy hits CSPAN 3 on Sunday night, December 15
My talk about the John Wilkes Booth Conspiracy to the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond will be aired on CSPAN 3 this weekend at 9 p.m. on Sunday, December 15,…
Read MoreKilling Them Softly
Death plays a big role in most history books, and definitely in biographies. The death of a central feature often concludes a book. Even if the book’s story ends before…
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