Writing
Aaron Burr at 255: Still Ticking People Off
Repeatedly over the last several months, Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota has blamed Aaron Burr for her lurch to the Far Right. Her epiphany came during her college years in the 1970s, when she read of Burr’s jaundiced view of the true character of the men who founded the country. “He was going after our founders,” she said…
Read MoreStanley Nelson, Hero
There are unassuming folks around us who do great things. Stanley Nelson is one of those people. The editor of the weekly Concordia Sentinel in northeast Louisiana, Nelson has for several years conducted a crusade to track down and bring to justice those who terrorized civil rights activists in the 1960s. I met Stanley when…
Read MoreAmerican Emperor: October 4!
We now have a schedule and a cover! Simon & Schuster will release my new book on October 4: American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America. The book explores the story of Burr’s audacious “Western conspiracy,” which involved an invasion of Mexico and Florida, or an insurrection in New Orleans, or the secession of the Western…
Read MoreWashington Independent Review of Books — Launched
I invite you to visit The Washington Independent Review of Books (http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/), the newest voice in the community of readers and writers. We are launching The Independent today as a website dedicated to book reviews and writing about the world of books. Today you’ll find reviews of a biography of America’s chief spook during World…
Read MoreViolence and Andrew Jackson
I have posted at Huffington Post a quick overview of the longstanding tradition of violence among our political leaders. Indeed, our leaders have included some bloody and short-tempered folks, from Burton Gwinnett in 1777 to Strom Thurmond in 1964. I decided to leave out our most violent national leader, Andrew Jackson. Sure, Jackson did kill a man in a duel, Charles…
Read MoreAmendment Fetish: The Repeal Amendment
While proclaiming undying fealty to the Constitution, the Tea Party movement and its allies are touting a hot new amendment to that otherwise perfect document, which goes by the oxymoronic name “the Repeal Amendment.” This proposed amendment would allow two-thirds of the state legislatures to repeal any law or regulation of the federal government, so long…
Read MoreAmendment Fetish: The Seventeenth Amendment
Adopted in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment changed the way American choose their senators. Until then, each state legislature selected that state’s two senators for six-year terms. After 1913, the voters have chosen senators in elections. Repeal of the Seventeenth Amendment is a centerpiece of the state’s rights push behind the Tea Party movement and its close…
Read MoreThe Amendment Fetish: The Problem of the States
The swelling Tea Party movement embodies a fascinating contradiction. Its leaders profess a near-religious awe for the U.S. Constitution. This has led to stunts like the reading of the Constitution on the floor of the House of Representatives. Should it also lead to greater sales for The Summer of 1787, I will be hard-pressed to complain. …
Read MoreAaron Burr Leaves the Senate
The Washington Post ran a piece on Saturday about how current senators ignore the deeply-felt farewell addresses of their departing colleagues. Having just completed my manuscript about Aaron Burr’s Western expedition, which will be published next fall — American Emperor: Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America — I was reminded of Burr’s emotional departure from the Senate in…
Read MoreConan Doyle and the Tax Man
I’m thoroughly enjoying a biography of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes, by Dan Stashower: Teller of Tales. Stashower reveals the source of Holmes’ uncanny ability to deduce a person’s biography in the first meeting him or her, solely by close observation of appearance: Conan Doyle had a professor in medical school at the University of Edinburgh who had that…
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