Writing
Reading Madison's Mail
Bulletins from the frontiers of research: When it came to negotiating the Louisiana Purchase, American diplomats James Monroe and Robert Livingston sewed up the deal in a couple of weeks. …
Read MoreWas King Richard III really all that bad?
After 500 years, we now know where the bones of King Richard III of England are. They have been found under a parking lot in Leicester, England, near the site…
Read MoreA True Collector, Part 2
We last left our hero in the Dallas library of Harlan Crow, admiring the paintings of three World War II leaders (Eisenhower, Churchill, and Hitler). Outside the library, however, lurked…
Read MoreA True Collector, part 1
While in Dallas a couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Harlan Crow Library, which is in Mr. Crow’s home. It was an…
Read MoreJames 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 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…
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…
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