“Amidst all the vagaries of life, there’s death and taxes, and Mrs. K’s Toll House,” or so I wrote in a restaurant review for The Washington Post in August 1998. Death and taxes remain among life’s few certainties. But, 22 years on, Mrs. K’s is no more. The large sign recently posted in front of […]
A Plains Christmas and Pride in Charley, R.I.P.
A Plains Christmas It is so vivid in my mind, it seems like yesterday. But 40 years ago next week I boarded Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base to fly with Jimmy Carter, during his last Christmas as president, to Robins AFB in Georgia, and then with ear plugs in a noisy military […]
Pearl Harbor Day 2020
Dec. 7, 1941 – 79 years ago today – may indeed be a date that lives in infamy, even if barely remembered. A total of 2,403 died that day from the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. Our then polarized country immediately united and went to war. By the end of it , there were 291,557 […]
We Gather Together–Apart
Happy Thanksgiving! (Or Happy Day After Thanksgiving, if you are seeing this on Friday) Today’s papers are filled with solemn holiday columns commenting on the sadness and irony we are feeling on this holiday during the time of the pandemic. But also, as E.J. Dionne observes, quoting a friend’ recent statement, “I work from home, […]
In Praise of Chester A. Arthur
Let us now praise Chester Alan Arthur. The largely forgotten 21st president, a Republican vice president propelled into the office by the assassination of President John Garfield in 1881, Arthur served out the fallen president’s term and no longer. But during his one term he signed into law the Pendleton Act, which replaced the corrupt spoils […]
Shameless Self-Promotion, The Good Lord Bird, and Much, Much More!
Shameless self-promotion: Schiffer Publishing, which still has a healthy stockpile of my book, “Maryland Lost and Found…Again,” is advising its authors to take advantage of Prime Day (Amazon’s annual deal event for Prime members: October 13 & 14). But Amazon’s promotions are tied to the number of reviews on its site. Currently, “Five for Freedom: […]
Special Edition: Snag great books (signed) while supporting online book review
Snag Great Gifts (signed books, Zoom events) While Supporting Us | Washington Independent Review of Books http://bit.ly/33KVIU4 For highlights, click here. The Washington Independent Review of Books is a mostly volunteer nonprofit online book review that came into being more than nine years ago following the demise of the Washington Post’s standalone Book World section. […]
The “Emperor” Has No Clothes, A Monumental Message, and More
Happy Labor Day Weekend! What an odd time to be celebrating labor’s contribution to the country when so many millions are out of work due to the coronavirus pandemic. Walking in the mall, as we did this past week, is a ghostly experience, since so many shops are shuttered. Similarly, more and more Lease signs […]
What we took for granted
The other day, in the fifth month of the coronavirus pandemic, we went out for a latte. It was midday and time for a break from our self-imposed stay-at-home regimen now that our small corner of the world had begun to reopen—tentatively, cautiously, and not entirely free of stress. In fact, there were six reported […]
“Hello, sweetheart, get me obits!”
Obit writers are getting a lot of work these days. And maybe more recognition. The recognition is long overdue. The workload? Growing exponentially from the coronavirus pandemic, with more to come from some states reopening prematurely and, absent social distancing, from large Black Lives Matter protests across the nation. In the media, Covid-19 has given new […]