With the Republican Convention in full swing this week, it’s worth taking a look at the third party platform of President Theodore Roosevelt, a GOP icon (“I love Teddy Roosevelt,” says Mitt Romney. “Anybody who says ‘Bully’ is a friend of mine.“) The formerpresident founded the Progressive Party (aka Bull Moose Party) because he was disappointed […]
The German General Who Told Hitler to Go Screw Himself
I am fascinated by colorful historical characters, especially military or naval figures. Very few of these people could be considered truly heroic. One of the rare exceptions is Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, commander of a small German army – largely composed of black troops – that fought the British Empire in East Africa during World […]
THE DEATH OF CHIVALRY
My agent, Jody Rein, recently introduced me to an interesting piece in the New York Times about the influence of Sir Walter Scott’s literature on Southern attitudes during the Civil War. The NYT commentary said Scott’s “highly idealized depiction of the age of chivalry allowed Southern readers and writers to find positive meaning in war’s […]
BOARDWALK EMPIRE – The Real Esther Randolph
Boardwalk Empire fans: did you know Esther Randolph is closely based on an extraordinary real woman named Mabel Walker Willebrandt? I love HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. It nails the 1920s, and the reality-based characters from Capone to Daugherty are pretty accurately portrayed. But what really knocks me out about the show are the lesser-known but historically […]
No Historical Precedent for Obama/Holder Assassination of US Citizens
Attorney General Eric Holder declared on March 5, 2012 that President Obama can, with impunity, secretly order the assassination or indefinite imprisonment of Americans abroad. According to Holder, President Obama may do this without a shred of evidence, based solely on the CIA or Defense Department’s suspicion the citizens are terrorists or “pose an imminent […]
