Posts Tagged ‘U.S. history’
What Happens When the President Gets Sick?
The recent news of positive COVID-19 tests for a valet for President Trump and an aide to Vice President Pence revive a thorny question: What happens if the president gets…
Read MoreUp Next: G. Washington, America's Master Politician
I’ve just signed with a Penguin imprint, New American Library, to write a book about The Big Guy — GWash himself, the Master of Mount Vernon, the man-myth who was…
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 MoreBlagojevich and the Founders
It’s open season on the Founders. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN), who is looking at a run for president as an Extreme Right-wing choice, has already revealed that she became a…
Read MoreTruth Through Fiction
I am working on a project involving late 19th-century America, so wanted to get a better feel for the thinking and diction of the period. I remembered a claim by…
Read MoreJudging a Book By Its Title: Forgetting The Forgotten Founder
In my experience, choosing a book title is an agonizing process. The title must perform several functions at once: It must give the reader some idea what is inside the…
Read MoreKilling bin Laden
Why am I not elated by the killing of Osama bin Laden, when so many of my neighbors and friends are? I can do the realpolitik calculation. He initiated/inspired/caused several…
Read MoreStill Looking for Alexander
I applaud those who try to bring history to life and share it with the largest possible audiences. But it’s not an automatic pass. You still need to tell the…
Read MoreLong Books
Right now, I am in the midst of two long and highly acclaimed long books. I’ve been reading a print edition of Ron Chernow’s Washington, and I’ve been listening to an…
Read MoreThe Fascination of Aaron Burr
Scores of novelists and playwrights have explored the stories of Aaron Burr. I was amazed to discover that his achievements and failures had appealed to such diverse writers as Eudora…
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