history – An American Bluestocking

Shattering the myth of the Secret Service

History shows us that the recent failings of the US Secret Service had their roots in an agency whose culture and management have been in desperate need of an overhaul for decades.

‘Yells for Ourselves’ gets up close and personal with the NY Mets

Sports stories — and especially baseball stories — are written at certain altitudes, as it were. Some are written from 30,000 feet, taking a wide overview of what’s happening across a broad span of time. Some cruise along at a lower altitude, focusing on a particular team or player but still encompassing a number ofContinue reading “‘Yells for Ourselves’ gets up close and personal with the NY Mets”

Abe Lincoln had the write stuff

From the start, he needed to overcome internal and external opposition by willful acts of self-definition, the ambitious farm boy autodidact becoming a splitter of words and ideas rather than fence rails. Fred Kaplan, Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer I’m having trouble writing this review because I have so much to say. I triedContinue reading “Abe Lincoln had the write stuff”