Abraham Lincoln

Obama’s America  read more »

Obama’s America  read more »

Our culture of publicity makes it difficult to talk in negative terms about a new book without sound  read more »

Our culture of publicity makes it difficult to talk in negative terms about a new book without sound  read more »

I couldn't resist posting this.

Hillary Clinton noted that Abraham Lincoln "didn't hesitate" to change generals during the Civil War, and that said "We have a secretary of defense who is not credible anymore."

John Spencer responded, "Abraham Lincoln changed generals...you're not president yet Mrs. Clinton, so don't call for that."

-- Azi Paybarah

That Reporter--or, as he called himself, T.R.--sat at his desk and thought about words. It was a Wednesday in New York, and an airplane had hit an apartment building. Had what? Hit it? A building? Yes, it had. Debris had fallen from the sky. Debris lay scattered in the street. Debris and facts.

Who would gather the facts? Other reporters would gather the facts. They were out there, in the rain, the other reporters. Rain was falling, like the debris had fallen. Rain was falling on the other reporters.

But T.R. was thinking about words. Words were his tools, because he was a writer. Perhaps he should start calling himself "T.W." He was not some grunt-working fact-gatherer. T.R. was an interpreter. Other people could gather the bricks and mix the mortar and lay the bricks and plaster the walls and make sure the building stood up and install the plumbing. T.R. was the architect. That was a metaphor. T.R. knew that was a metaphor; that was the sort of thing that a writer would know.

T.R. looked at his screen.  read more »

Times They Are a-Booin’

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In 1881, raising capital on the strength of his name alone, Villard took control of the Northern  read more »

I got a phone call the other day from a rollicking-voiced person at National Public Radio who wanted  read more »

The day he was appointed Acting Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, Bill Lann Lee gave this  read more »

Three quintessential works in American film history this week, two by an Englishman, one by an Irish  read more »

God and the American Writer , by Alfred Kazin. Alfred A.  read more »