He was a young fellow, with the mandatory four-days-growth beard.  I don’t get that many younger folks to my readings, so I was happy to seem him in the book-signing line after my talk about American Emperor at the National Archives earlier this month. Then he presented his soft-covered volume, which turned out to be…

When she began taping our interview at noon today, Mimi Geerges, who has a radio show on XM-Sirius and a bunch of local public radio stations (see below), described Aaron Burr as a “scoundrel.” Wait, I said.  He wasn’t really a scoundrel. Really?  She answered.  He was a traitor, wasn’t he? And we were off. …

This weekend marks the anniversary of the 1806 launch of Aaron Burr’s ill-fated Western expedition.  The former vice president had arranged for the construction of riverboats that could carry 1500 men down to New Orleans, Florida, Mexico, and beyond. The recruits mustered at Blennerhassett Island, on the Ohio River beyond Marietta, Ohio (across from the…

Like you, I was appalled to read about the congressional representatives — Republicans and Democrats alike — who have traded on the stock market on inside information gained through their public duties.  Peter Schweizer’s new book, Throw Them All Out, has stirred up this tempest.  The episode that disgusted me the most was when key…

After sailing into the marketplace on Tuesday, American Emperor picked up a terrific review from David Holahan at the Christian Science Monitor, which featured a great opening line:   “If you feel that our contemporary politics are off the rails, you should read David O. Stewart’s vivid account of 19th-century American machinations.”  The review goes…

Bloomberg.com has just posted a podcast of the interview I did with Lewis Lapham about American Emperor.  Mr. Lapham (it wasn’t long enough to get on a first-name basis) no longer edits Harper’s, which he did for many years, but does put out Lapham’s Quarterly, in addition to doing this series of podcast interviews for…

The current financial crisis surrounding Greece has the European Union (EU) reliving an American nightmare of the 1780s.  Then, the Articles of Confederation bound the thirteen states together with ties that were both loose and clumsy, and that failed.  The parallels are plain: A group of states join together for mutual advantage. History and pride…

When Aaron Burr left the office of vice president in March 1805, his future was clouded.  President Jefferson had dropped him from the Republican ticket the year before, then Burr lost a race for governor of New York.  Winning his famous duel with Alexander Hamilton, former Secretary of the Treasury, landed Burr under indictment for…

John Q. Barrett is a law professor at St. John’s in New York and a scholar of Justice Robert Jackson (pictured below).  He produces periodic e-mails about Justice Jackson that are often fascinating.  His most recent message deals with Jackson’s exchange with Judge Charles Wyzanski over the legitimacy of the Nuremburg trials of Nazi leaders…