Blog
James Madison, Climate Change Guru?
James Madison was a thoughtful fellow. Very. He and his pal Jefferson were amateur scientists, forever corresponding about their observations of natural phenomena or some new wacky theory coming out of those European…
Read MoreNice Words From the Academy
History writers like me (that is, those without doctorates) sometimes develop a bit of a ‘tude about academics who occasionally sneer at our efforts. An Ivy League type wrote of my first…
Read MoreThe Shadow of Gore Vidal
Anyone who writes about Aaron Burr — like me, for example, in American Emperor — has to wrestle with the shadow of Gore Vidal. Vidal rendered Burr as a marvelous three-dimensional character in…
Read MoreColonel Burr is going to the National Book Festival
I am very happy to report that I will be talking about Colonel Burr and his Western expedition at the National Book Festival on the Mall in Washington, DC. I’m…
Read MoreGive the Little Man a Chance!
While attending the Washington Nationals’ Opening Day on Thursday, I immediately collided with the team’s one tremendous success: its marketing of the mid-game Presidents’ Race. For those of you who…
Read MoreAnti-whose-trust? The Problem of E-Books
I rise on a point of personal privilege. My government, in the form of the U.S. Department of Justice, has just brought a legal action that will make my life…
Read MoreWorld War I: Too Big to Write?
Having just finished the terrific, deeply flawed The Beauty and the Sorrow by Peter Englund, about World War I, I find myself wondering if it is possible to write a…
Read MoreBarnes & Noble: The Anti-Amazon
After decades representing them, I am not particularly sentimental about giant corporations. They do not exist to care about their employees, their officials, or their customers. They exist to organize…
Read MoreFort Sumter, Where It All Began
Last weekend, on my third trip to Charleston, SC, I finally made it out to Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Like many trips to historical sites, the visit had real…
Read MoreThe Great Anti-Climax
It was the moment Aaron Burr had been working toward for two years. In late December, 1806, he stood on the Illinois shore of the Ohio River, just below the…
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