At the beginning of World War I, Russia had plenty of food, but just about enough railroad transport to make it available throughout the empire, to Petrograd, for example, their capital, renamed from the German form of the name, St. Petersburg. At the beginning of World War I, according to […]

I’m entirely swept up in Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. From his perspective as the parent of a child with hemophilia, he is able to fathom the soul of the empress Alexandra. I didn’t know beans about hemophilia before, and I didn’t think I wanted to. I thought […]

You may be aware of the historical controversy over Thomas Jefferson’ seven children with Sally Hemmings. Many historians, for many years, insisted he did not sire them, and even after DNA evidence was introduced, insisted they were sired by Jefferson’s nephews. We have evidence the nephews were not where they […]

I watched a movie with my folks last night called The Will Rogers Story, and I learned a lot about this most amazing American. A Cherokee (with lots of other nationalities mixed in) born in Oklahoma when it was still the Indian Territory, he was a cowhand in Texas, Argentina […]

When King George III of England made his choice for prime minister, he turned to someone very like himself – “round-shouldered, fat, with a puffy pig-like face” – Frederick, Lord North. According to Richard M. Ketcham (American Heritage, June 1972), Lord North also had “an oversized tongue that thickened his […]

If you’re looking for great books to read to kids, you can’t do better than Robert McCloskey. Make Way for Ducklings is legendary in Boston and Blueberries for Sal has always been legendary in my family since the title character looks exactly like my mom, Sally Hartshorne, who made me […]

For years I’ve been seeing Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie at flea markets and tag sales. It sold a bajillion copies and got made into a movie, which I haven’t seen but plan to. I finally decided to read it. You’ve probably already read it, but if you […]

Everybody has their own idea of a great vacation, I guess. For my daughter Sarah and me, this year at least, it had to include a lot of theater. She’s an actress and I’m an aspiring playwright. But we also wanted to include kayaking and tennis and fresh air and […]

I know I have a problem. I admit it. The last time I moved I had five truckloads worth of books, and that was 12 years ago. Now who knows. I don’t buy anything I can get at the library, and I don’t buy anything because someone else might want […]