Over the last year of the COVID pandemic, I have found myself contemplating past historic events in a new light. The suddenness of the changes that the pandemic brought to every day life and the feeling that the changes may be permanent is not unique to 2020-21. Many articles have focused on the Spanish flu … More The War That Ended The Peace
I picked up A. Rogers Ekirch’s American Sanctuary: Mutiny, Martyrdom, and National Identity in the Age of Revolution from my pile of books to read and I am sorry that I had not read it earlier. As it happens I followed this up with Carol Berkin’s A Sovereign People: The Crises of the 1790s and the … More Books: A Sovereign People and American Sanctuary
Elizabeth Dowling Taylor has once again brought an important African American back to life. In her first book, “A Slave in the White House” she told the story of Paul Henry who was the slave of James Madison. Henry was also the man that helped to save the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington when … More Books: The Original Black Elite
1809 would turn out to be quite a year. Not only was it the year Lincoln was born but also one of the great American writers, Edgar Allen Poe, was born. Although he is most closely associated with the cities of Richmond and Baltimore, like many writers, Poe spent time in New York where … More Edgar Allan Poe – A New York Writer
When most people discuss World War II, they talk about the European theater or the Pacific theater rarely do they discuss the battle that took place right off our eastern shores in the Atlantic. That battle is the subject of an intriguing book, The Mathews Men, that details the sacrifices of the American merchant fleet … More BOOKS: The Mathews Men
This is another book that has been on my reading pile. Washington’s Circle by David S. Heilder and Jeanne T. Heilder traverse territory that is not new to anyone who has studied George Washington. However, they give a new twist to the creation of the presidency by examining the people who surrounded Washington as … More Washington’s Circle
This week our nation marked the 228th anniversary of the ratification of the United States Constitution. Unsurprisingly, most Americans did not mark the day because we tend to take the Constitution for granted – like the sun. The ratification debate was heated as well as polarizing. Many Americans do not realize that many of the … More Revolutionary Dissent
Few Americans register the fact that New York City was once the capitol of the United States. Frequently, on my walking tours, when we get to Federal Hall and we gaze on the magnificent statue of George Washington by John Quincy Adams Ward, someone is surprised to hear George took the oath in New York … More Books: The First Congress
This is not a new book having been published in 2014 but it has a new, interesting view of Teddy Roosevelt. As the author, Edward P. Kohn states, most historians and enthusiasts of Teddy put great emphasis on the time he spent in the Badlands. This is always cited as the reason for his conservation … More Heir to the Empire City
This is a book that had been sitting on my “to read” pile for some time. I am so glad that I finally picked it up. The author, Dave R. Palmer, is the former Superintendent of West Point and he brings a military eye to both of these men. Unlike other books about these opposite … More BOOKS: George Washington and Benedict Arnold – A Tale of Two Patriots
Bowery & Canal 