Books
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Letter From Home: “Little Raccoon” 6/18/26
A couple of weeks ago, James and I sorted through a large drawer containing childhood memories. I picked up the well-used and somewhat frayed hardcover copy of Little Raccoon. My father would come into the dining room, and without ceremony, he’d reach for the book that was included in a pile of my childhood reads. I… Continue reading
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Letter from Home: “A Community” 5/23/26
Originally posted July, 8. 2009 It was a most pleasant sound that wafted across the warm air. A group of about ten women, comprising a writer’s group, had gathered on the back patio at one of our neighbors’ to talk about their creative efforts and get feedback from each other. (Our neighbor is sending out… Continue reading
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Letter From Home “The Embosser” 5/23/26
The old man in Maine looked like he had more local wisdom than anyone around, so I asked if he had lived there all his life. “Not yet,” he said while grinning back at me. The best folks to talk with when traveling are the ones with weathered faces and eyes that link with yours:… Continue reading
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Humphrey History Minute: Gay Relationships In American History That Never Bloomed
Using two examples from American history, one from 1832 and the other from 1904, the question is raised about what happens when young men who form emotional connections with other young men are not allowed to blossom and come to fruition. We can only imagine what the lives of Henry Ward Beecher, and John Foster… Continue reading
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Iran’s New Strength, Trump’s Weakness: “Please, Please. It’s Too Much Winning. We Can’t Take It Anymore”
My first favorite author was Allen Drury, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Advise and Consent. As a teenager, I ate his books up, thrilled by their political and international stories with a continuous batch of colorful characters. But nothing…I mean nothing…that Drury could make up in his brilliant writing comes close to a plot line… Continue reading
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Book Journey Through History
Every summer, since the mid-1990s, I have selected a topic to read and explore. One year, it was Catherine the Great, then Russian history, and another year, Mao Zedong consumed my attention. This year, I am not sure which direction to head. So, over the past couple of weeks, I have spent time on the… Continue reading
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Chaos In The Republic: What President McKinley’s Assassination Revealed About A Fractured America
Eric Rauchway’s Murdering McKinley situates the assassination of President William McKinley within a nation deeply divided by the forces of industrial capitalism. I probably did not need to pull another book from the shelves this weekend, but I was in the mood for something different, so the slim volume of just over 200 pages fell… Continue reading
Caffeinated Politics 