Ted’s Excellent Adventures

It cannot be said that Theodore Roosevelt has suffered from historical neglect. Harvard's collection of Rooseveltiana boasts 14,000 works by or about the man. A casual perusal of Amazon's Top 100 Audiobooks on Presidents and Heads of State turns up no fewer than 10 dealing with TR, more than any of the executive fraternity with whom he shares Mount Rushmore. A celebratory Roosevelt biography by Fox News anchor Bret Baier is currently ensconced on the New York Times bestseller list.

The post Ted’s Excellent Adventures appeared first on .

C.P. Cavafy: Cosmopolitan Poet

Early in their biography of the Greek poet C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933), Gregory Jusdanis and Peter Jeffreys announce that they have written a "thematic" as opposed to a "linear" biography. The facts of their subject's life, they hold, are rather unremarkable and straightforward. "We have chosen, therefore, to start and finish his life story with his death and then tell a circular narrative through various thematic sequences." They continue: "The thematic approach also enables us to draw attention to the artificiality of biography as a type of writing."

The post C.P. Cavafy: Cosmopolitan Poet appeared first on .

An Honest Look at a Latter Day Saint

Nineteenth-century America was a land of prophets unseen since ancient Israel. These preachers roamed the frontier, erecting churches and gathering followings. One obscure but particularly extreme example from Ohio "jumped off a riverbank in an attempt to catch the heavenly message." Another, born into an obscure family of hardscrabble New York farmers, soon passed into the very same rural Midwestern town. Surrounded by failed apostles, this one would go on to build a church with 17 million adherents. In the new biography Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet, John G. Turner sets out to discover what separated Joseph Smith from his contemporaries.

The post An Honest Look at a Latter Day Saint appeared first on .

The Birth of Cool

When Elmore Leonard died in 2013, he was the undisputed king of crime fiction. Writers and celebrities like Walker Percy, Nora Ephron, Clint Eastwood, Donald Fagen, Stephen King, Martin Amis, Ann Beattie, and George F. Will celebrated his novels. His best-selling novels—full of double-crosses, dirty-dealing, uptight stooges, smooth antiheroes, plot twists, and deadpan dialogue—inspired some […]

The post The Birth of Cool appeared first on .

Mark Twain Gets the Chernow Treatment

Mark Twain (real name Samuel Clemens) continues to make news, whether in unabashed reverence by comedian Conan O’Brien as he accepted this year’s Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, or in defamation by countless school boards who have banned The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which uses the "n-word" 219 times.

The post Mark Twain Gets the Chernow Treatment appeared first on .

How Ian Fleming Birthed James Bond

With 'Ian Fleming: The Complete Man,' writer Nicholas Shakespeare has adroitly written the first authorized biography of the man who created the world's most famous fictional spy.

Christian Ethics And Utilitarianism Set Elon Musk And SBF On Radically Different Paths

In SBF's world, he was God — seeking to acquire the wealth and power to determine humanity’s future.

Give The Gift Of True American History With These Wonderful Biographies For Children

Everyone was reading the Heroes of Liberty books in my home for Thanksgiving, from the early elementary kids to their twenty-something aunts and uncles to their grandpa.

Educate Your Kids In American History With ‘Heroes Of Liberty’

A series of children’s books entitled ‘Heroes of Liberty’ promotes patriotic role models for young students.

‘Renegades And Rogues’ Misses The Mark On Conan’s Creator

Much of Howard’s "magic" came from his ability to create emotional sincerity through the hatreds and bloodlust of characters like Conan the Barbarian.