Thursday, November 17, 2005
The Epic South, a Man from Queens, Queens, and TV Football
Birthday of American novelist and historian Shelby Foote, born in Greenville, MS (1916). He had published several highly regarded novels, including Tournament (1949), Follow Me Down (1950) and Love in a Dry Season (1951), when an editor asked him in 1952 if he would try writing a narrative history...
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Writers with Insight and Courage
Birthday of playwright George S. Kaufman, born in Pittsburgh, PA (1889), known as "the hitmaker"in his day because he co-wrote more hit plays than almost anyone else in the history of Broadway, including Animal Crackers (1928), Strike Up the Band (1930) and You Can't Take It With You (1938). Of the...
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Tuesday, November 15, 2005
The Draft, F.P.A., Dickens, and Elvis
On this day in 1940, 75,000 men were called to Armed Forces duty under the first peacetime conscription in American history. There had been a long history of resistance to mandatory military service in the USA. During World War I, an estimated 3 million young men refused to register, and 12% of...
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Monday, November 14, 2005
Moby Dick, Shrek, and Pippi
On this day in 1851, Harper & Brothers published Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville, about a ship captain named Ahab who is obsessed with hunting the great white sperm whale that took his leg. The book had been published in Britain in October with the title The Whale; Melville's decision to change the...
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The Weekend
Saturday, Nov. 12 On this day in 1969 reporter Seymour Hersh broke the story of the My Lai massacre. On March 16, 1968, American soldiers under the command of Lieutenant William Calley had been ordered to destroy the village of My Lai, supposed to be a Viet Cong stronghold. When they arrived, the...
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Friday, November 11, 2005
Veterans Day and Writers
Today is Veterans Day, honoring Americans who serve and have served in the armed forces. You are invited to click on this post from last year for details on today’s events and people, but I will add a quote here. Of the war, philosopher Bertrand Russell said, "All this madness, all this rage, all...
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Thursday, November 10, 2005
Interesting Men
Birthday of theologian Martin Luther, born in Eisleben, Saxony (1483), which is now located in Germany. He is often referred to as the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation, but he was also an very productive writer. Between the years of 1516 to 1546, he published an article on religion every...
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Wednesday, November 9, 2005
Roosevelt's Steam Shovel, Kristallnacht, and a Poet
On this day in 1906 Teddy Roosevelt bucked more than a century of tradition to become the first American president ever to leave the country while in office when he went to view the Panama Canal construction site. It had been felt that the President couldn't oversee the country effectively if he...
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Tuesday, November 8, 2005
A War Going Badly, Inspiration with a Vampire, and a Famous War Novel
On this day in 1864 Abraham Lincoln was elected to his second term as President of the United States, an election that helped ensure the preservation of the Union. It was one of the only times in history that an election was held by a nation in the middle of a civil war. The summer before the...
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Monday, November 7, 2005
The Bolsheviks and Camus
On this day in 1917 the Russian Revolution took place, bringing the first Communist government in the world to power under control of Vladimir Lenin. Russia had had a semi-Democratic government since 1905, with the Czar sharing power with a parliament. The czar grew increasingly unpopular after the...
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