U.S. History
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 know-it-alls. Jefferson usually gets all the credit for being a renaissance man while Madison gets credit for being . . . short. But Madison had some…
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 book (and I paraphrase), “I don’t know why they publish books like this.” Because people like to read them! In any event, a distinguished historian…
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 his rollicking historical novel with the admirably simple title, Burr. I read Vidal’s Burr when it came out in 1973 and ate it up. It was…
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 scheduled for Sunday afternoon, September 23, thought the exact time has not been set. The festival is a great two-day event which was first organized…
Read MoreThe head grows ever larger
“In time of actual war, great discretionary powers are constantly given to the executive magistrate. Constant apprehension of war has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body.” James Madison, Constitutional Convention, June 29, 1787 Producing a book on James Madison presents a great many challenges. A major one, I am…
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 have not enjoyed a game at Nationals Park, this involves four individuals wearing costumes with giant heads that dimly resemble Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and TR. …
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 considerably worse. It has sued five publishing houses and Apple under what we somewhat nostalgically still call the “antitrust” laws. As an author of three…
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 sensible history of that massive, world-changing conflict. I hope people keep trying to do so, because I want to try to understand it better, but…
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 economic activity and produce a return on capital. If that requires that they undertake an action that would seem caring if performed by an individual,…
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 power to explain events, yet the site itself was somehow smaller than its legendary role in historical memory. The location of the site was itself…
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