Writing
Fear of the Shallows
Looking back over the year just ended, I am struck by the proliferation of door-stopper books. This phenomenon — which afflicted both fiction and non-fiction — emerged in many of…
Read More"The Lincoln Deception" on Audible.com
Audible.com has finally listed the audiobook version of The Lincoln Deception, narrated by L.J. Ganser. I’m a huge fan of audiobooks, and listen to them all the time in the car, even…
Read MoreKilling Them Softly
Death plays a big role in most history books, and definitely in biographies. The death of a central feature often concludes a book. Even if the book’s story ends before…
Read MoreWashington Navy Yard: Some Tough History
For someone writing a book about James Madison (that’s me), yesterday’s mass shooting at the Washington Navy Yard has powerful echoes. While the new national capital was being hacked out…
Read MoreJohn Bingham: American Founding Son
Today marks the launch of a new biography of Congressman John Bingham of Cadiz, Ohio, American Founding Son, by Gerard Magliocca of University of Indiana School of Law. It’s great…
Read MoreAaron Burr on Staten Island
Aaron Burr’s final days on Staten Island are the subject of a delightful new volume by Martha Smith Kakuk and Ray Swick: Aunt Abby and Aaron Burr’s Last Days: Staten Island,…
Read MoreLooking for America in World War I
On a recent trip to France, as part of research for a novel I hope to write next year, my long-suffering wife endured several days in northeastern France looking for traces…
Read More"The Lincoln Deception": One step closer!
I just received a few “advanced reader copies” (i.e., copies for reviewers) of my forthcoming novel, The Lincoln Deception. It’s a great pleasure to see them, though the book doesn’t go on sale…
Read MoreBurr's Corsets . . .
Aaron Burr’s devotion to the charms of the fair sex is the apparent justification for a new exhibition at the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Upper Manhattan, where Burr lived for a few…
Read MorePirates Ahoy!
I don’t think these pirates look much like Captain Jack Sparrow, though it might be more entertaining if they did. Nah, it wouldn’t. I was blown away by a recent notice from…
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