Historical and Legal Commentary
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 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 MoreDo You Know Where These Maps Are?
Writing books about history means trying to find out secrets that once were not secrets. In my current project about Aaron Burr and his dream of creating an American empire, I am feverishly trying to track down three maps that Burr was using when he was arrested for treason in Mississippi, which supposedly provide insight into…
Read MoreNew Perspectives on New Orleans and Jefferson
I treasure books that help me look at familiar things in a new way, and have just finished two that do that: Ned Sublette’s The World the Made New Orleans, and Roger Kennedy’s Mr. Jefferson’s Lost Cause. Though neither book is quite new, they were new to me. Sublette is one of those appalling people…
Read MoreChestertown
For the next two months, I will be in Chestertown on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, as part of the Hodson Trust-John Carter Brown Fellowship. The deal involves living in a 1730s-era home (restored, of course), access to the resources of Washington College, a stipend, and . . . finishing my book on the Western…
Read MoreEdward Durell: The First Federal Judge from Louisiana to be Impeached
As an avid follower of the current impeachment proceedings against Judge G. Thomas Porteous of New Orleans, I have been delighed to discover that another judge from New Orleans was impeached by the House of Representatives — in 1874. Judge Edward Durell, a transplant to the Crescent City from New Hampshire, was impeached as part of…
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