Original anecdotes, commentary, rumination, and occasional pontification.
MARCH 27, 2025 – Here’s the question that dogs me whenever I consider a major issue of public concern: Can I—never “Do I”—ever know what I’m talking about? Another way of presenting the question is, Can I ever grasp, synthesize, analyze and draw a reasonable conclusion from . . . drum roll, drum roll . …
MARCH 24, 2025 – I’m writing this with one eye. Correction (so to speak). I’m punching this out with 10 fingers equally divided between my two hands. It’s the vision part of the exercise that’s being managed by one eye—well, primarily one eye. The other eye is covered with a hard plastic protector to block …
MARCH 23, 2025 – This morning after breakfast (over which I continued ploughing through Howard Zinn’s flawed[1] but compelling A People’s History of the United States, I poured myself a small cup of coffee and repaired to another reading spot to explore Anna Reid’s Borderland, fine work on the history of Ukraine, which, in turn, …
MARCH 21, 2025 – I enjoy the work of good filmmakers as much as I delight in the oeuvres of accomplished writers. Though in each case my radar is honed on “the story,” I’ve learned that often what makes a book or movie especially memorable are all the elements that bring the tale to life. …
MARCH 19, 2025 – Inside the broad sweep of history, we search for keys to unlock secrets of the future. Given how politics, economics, and cultural features evolved (and devolved) in the past, how might we divine the course they will take next month, next year, two generations forward? We take various slides from the …
MARCH 18, 2025 – Yesterday evening in the company of my two history-hungry friends, I attended yet another amazing two-hour lecture (no breaks) by the inimitable Russian history scholar, Professor Theofanis Stavrou. With his usual enthusiasm he delivered his far-reaching deep-diving tightly organized well-sourced exposition. His notes were on the lectern, but he never consulted …
MARCH 15, 2025 – The older I grow, the less I know. Some of what I do know, however, I know better than ever. One example: knowing that I don’t understand war; never have, never will. It’s the epitome of irrationality. Another example of what I know better than ever is that war will never …
MARCH 12, 2025 – (Cont.) I was never the literary cognoscente that my sisters and bros-in-law Chuck and GK are or that my late bro-in-law Dean and my parents were. To the extent heretofore I’ve read literature generally or Russian literature specifically, I’ve never explored the background of any writer—just as I never concerned myself …
MARCH 11, 2025 – Though I might fashion myself as the “modern man,” just as the delusionary graduate of a six-week Berlitz language course might think of himself as “bi-lingual,” my comfort zone is the antithesis of “current.” For example, when it came to my turn for our book club’s next reading choice, I put …
MARCH 10, 2025 – (Cont.) Nicholas was single-minded in his pursuit of architectural grandeur and lavish performances inside his multiple theaters—at his estates of Kuskovo, Ostrakino, and Markovo, outside Moscow, his dacha at Champêtre near St. Petersburg, and his most ambitious project, the Palace of the Arts in Moscow. For the Palace, he acquired the …
MARCH 9, 2025 – This evening I finished devouring a most fascinating book, The Pearl by Douglas Smith. It was recommended enthusiastically by Theofanis the Great—better known as Professor Stavrou, le tour de force of Russian history at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts. In his introductory lecture a month ago, he assigned …
FEBRUARY 27, 2025 – No, I did not inadvertently omit “Society” from “The New York Historical.” It was The New York Historical Society that ripped “Society” away. While a big chunk of the country has gone bonkers over DEI, back here in New York, where I write this, hyper-libs have intercepted the DEI ball and …
FEBRUARY 20, 2025 – (Cont.) After the time machine had rocketed back to the present, I looked up from Dad’s letter and squinted at the view framed by the window panes—sun and snow blinding me to the extreme cold outside. After my eyes adjusted, I noticed the royal blue sky, which reminded me of the …
FEBRUARY 10, 2025 – (Cont.) In a nutshell, Zinn’s thesis of American history is that its essence and inevitable outcome turn on a tight combination of three inescapable determinants: (a) Whiteness, (b) male dominance, and (c) property ownership. Of course, there are layers to each of these elements and a host of influences beyond them, …
FEBRUARY 9, 2025 – (Cont.) First, let’s take those first 150 pages of the 680-page history tome. The book is A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn. I’m positive that several of my readers have read all 680 pages of it; that additional readers know of the book and are generally familiar …
FEBRUARY 7, 2025 – The phrase “Government waste and inefficiency” was copyrighted by Republicans when their standard bearer, Ronald Reagan, arrived in Washington in January 1980. The most memorable line from his first inaugural speech was, “Government is not the solution to our problem. It is the problem.” In his popular wisdom, government was synonymous …
JANUARY 30, 2025 – (Cont.) After covering the “three levels of learning,” Professor Stavrou turned to the study of history generally. He emphasized that before you can assess what you’re reading on the history of most anything, you need to know the historian. Who is writing? What’s their background, their perspective, their springboard, their biases …
JANUARY 29, 2025 – (Cont.) If Professor Stavrou is the consummate inquisitive scholar, he is, I think a born educator in the loftiest sense of the term. He’s neither a pedant nor a pontificator but a man intensely dedicated to intellectual integrity and the joy of learning. Given his unusually lengthy career as both a …
JANUARY 28, 2025 – One day when I was a young kid, my sister Elsa came home from school reciting the name, Ponce de León, the explorer and conquistador who in 1513 led an expedition throughout what is now the state of Florida. Two hours later, Elsa remained enchanted by the name of the early …
JANUARY 19, 2025 – As the world prepares for the improbable second inauguration of a flam-flam artist[1] gone so apparently legit, he garnered a majority of the popular vote for president of—get this—the United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, domain of the eagle, and once a beacon for “[the] …
JANUARY 18, 2025 – Recently, I watched a Netflix documentary about the mind-boggling effort to build, launch and deploy James Webb. Of course, I’m not referring to the second NASA administrator by that name but the largest telescope ever built (by earthlings) and named in honor of him. The documentary reminded me of what I’ve …
JANUARY 14, 2025 – Last Sunday my wife and I took our nine-year-old granddaughter to a play at the renowned Children’s Theater Company (CTC) adjacent to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. While we wandered around the lobby waiting for the theater doors to open, I noticed the “Land Acknowledgment” posted off to the side. It …
JANUARY 10, 2025 – Lately, each morning while I consume my porridge,[1] I pore over a coffee-table-size book bearing the expansive title, History of the World Map by Map. It’s as much an historical atlas as it is a sweeping narrative of epochs and empires, movements and migrations that have shaped the world of homo …
JANUARY 4, 2025 – (Cont.) Trotsky and his family arrived in the Bronx just as real estate development—mostly in the form of eminently affordable apartment buildings—was taking off. Thanks to extensions of cheap and easy public transportation from Manhattan, many residents of the crowded tenements of the Lower East Side who were employed in the …
JANUARY 3, 2025 – This morning I sent a New Year’s greeting to a close Czech friend of ours and life-long resident of Prague. He’s a heart surgeon by profession, but he could achieve worldwide fame if he converted his principal avocation, photography, into his primary vocation. In my applause responding to his latest round …