inspiration + perspiration = invention :: T. Edison ::
We cannot understand the present without learning from the past. Here are my thoughts on the universal story.
history |
3 Forgotten PresidentsFeb. 16, 2015 | Comments There have been 43 presidents since Washington first took his oath of office. Unless that person happened to serve during a war or do something really amazing or stupid, many of these men have been lost to the cobwebs of history. |
historytheatre |
The History Behind Black Pearl Sings!Feb. 09, 2015 | Comments This story is based on the experiences of real song collectors who worked for the Archive of American Folk-Song (now part of the American Folklife Center), established by the Library of Congress in 1928. |
alternate historywebtelevisionreviews |
Amazon's The Man in the High CastleJan. 21, 2015 | Comments Various character studies in reaction to an Allied defeat in World War II is just the kind of thing that might work for today's speculative fiction television audience. Amazon and Scott are betting on it, and the finished product is an intriguing, engaging, and promising pilot. |
alternate historybooksreviews |
The Strange World of The Man in the High CastleJan. 20, 2015 | Comments As a thought experiment it excels. As a story, it enters and leaves the many narratives it spins without much care for the reader or a plot. |
history |
Women Vets In DisguiseNov. 15, 2014 | Comments Next week I will appear in a play about Malinda Blalock, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Civil War. Not only is it appropriate to remember her this week, but also the other women took up arms (and pants) for their country. |
alternate historymusictheatre |
Frankenstein: the OperettaJul. 12, 2014 | Comments Young Frankenstein was a recent hit on Broadway, but there could have been a much earlier comic musical about Mary Shelley's doctor and his creation, penned by none other than that dynamic operaetic duo Gilbert and Sullivan. |
alternate historyscrimshaw |
From the Diary of John Q. AdamsJul. 03, 2014 | Comments The eldest son of John Adams reflects on a momentous anniversary for his country. |
historybooksreviews |
Double Cross audiobookMay. 27, 2014 | Comments This chronicle of MI5's effort to turn Nazi spies into German agents during World War II is brilliant proof of the old adage "truth is stranger than fiction." |
history |
The Abraham Lincoln BattalionMay. 24, 2014 | Comments Few if any know of a small group of people who answered a call to service outside of the regular military. Years before the country officially entered World War II, a group of Americans went to Spain to fight. |
historytheatrescrimshaw |
WarMay. 22, 2014 | Comments One young woman's reaction to everything she's lost. Written as a monologue for a high school theatre class and inspired by my European History class's unit on the Napoleonic wars. |