Reading Madison's Mail
Bulletins from the frontiers of research: When it came to negotiating the Louisiana Purchase, American diplomats James Monroe and Robert Livingston sewed up the deal in a couple of weeks. When it came to squabbling over credit, the two diplomats spent eighteen months writing backbiting letters to James Madison (Secretary of State) explaining in excrutiating detail…
Read MoreThe horror. The horror.
Sometimes I admire a book of history but am pleased I didn’t have to write it. Either it seems like a too-long project, or involves difficult research efforts, or requires spending psychic time with unattractive historical figures and situations. All of those emotions arose as I recently read Timothy Snyder’s Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin, a harrowing depiction of the…
Read MoreWas King Richard III really all that bad?
After 500 years, we now know where the bones of King Richard III of England are. They have been found under a parking lot in Leicester, England, near the site of the Battle of Bosworth where he was slain. The evil genius of Shakespeare’s history plays, Richard — hunchbacked, vicious, fiendish clever — was the…
Read MoreThe Brookeville White House
Just off Route 97 in Brookeville, Maryland, stands an 18th Century home, lovingly restored by Sandy and Duane Heiler, that served as America’s capital for about 18 hours in late August 1814. Invading Maryland from ships in the Chesapeake Bay, British troops routed the Maryland militia in the somewhat embarrassing Battle of Bladensburg, then put…
Read MoreColonel Burr Onstage!
On Sunday, mi enamorata and I made a madcap day-trip to New York to view some one-act plays at the Founders’ Festival at the Metropolitan Playhouse on the Lower East Side. The Festival features eight plays in repertory through this Sunday, all about some aspect of the nation’s Founding era. Though we managed to see three…
Read MoreOne Billion New Readers?
Fun day today — I received two copies of the Chinese translation of The Summer of 1787! The one sobering thought is that, of course, I can hardly check on the quality of the translation. The thought comes to mind because I have been told that the Arabic version of the book is one of…
Read MoreJames Madison on War
James Madison, a good deal of the time, wrote with terrific insight. In a 1795 pamphlet, he summarized his thinking about the impact of war on a democratic society. Remember that he had been a boy through the French and Indian War (ended when he was 12) and a young political official and congressional delegate through eight…
Read MoreThe Lincoln Deception!
That’s the title — just agreed to by all interested parties — for my novel about the John Wilkes Booth conspiracy! It will be released by Kensington Publishing next September. It’s an historical mystery that explores the secrets behind the John Wilkes Booth Conspiracy. Watch for it next September: The Lincoln Deception. I like it.
Read MoreA True Collector, Part 2
We last left our hero in the Dallas library of Harlan Crow, admiring the paintings of three World War II leaders (Eisenhower, Churchill, and Hitler). Outside the library, however, lurked even greater wonders: a collection of gigantic statues of some of the 20th centuries most monstrous dictators, including — Lenin Stalin Mao Tse Tung Chou…
Read MoreA True Collector, part 1
While in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Harlan Crow Library, which is in Mr. Crow’s home. It was an amazing treat. After making our way past a couple of Charles Willson Peale portraits, we proceeded into his World War II room (or so I…
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