Biographer Ron Chernow explains, “Mark Twain has long been venerated as an emblem of Americana.” In this fascinating biography, Chernow explains why. Though the book runs to 1200 pp, it never becomes tedious; on the contrary, it is an enthralling read.

The founding of the United States is one of the greatest events in world history.

Given that 2025 marks the 160th anniversary of the end of the American Civil War, it seems appropriate to consider one of America’s statesmen, Ulysses S. Grant and his highly regarded Personal Memoirs, written neck break speed, as he was rapidly dying from tongue and throat cancer.

The most dangerous people in the world are those with no sense of humor.

Most histories are written about events that have actually transpired, unless they are fanciful “alternative histories.”

If you want to understand our contemporary politics and culture, you must have a working knowledge of the major revolutions of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

Has the practice of “civility” been left behind? Though it has never been practiced as well as it should, it nonetheless has supported a system of social manners, without which it is difficult to live together.

Tolkien’s collected correspondence was first published in 1981; a new edition was released in late 2023, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien: Revised and Expanded Edition, which adds more letters to the previous correspondence collection.

Over three football fields in length, almost one football field in width, twenty-five stories high, serving15,000 meals a day, and powered by two state-of-the-art A1B nuclear reactors, the gargantuan USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the largest warship in the world.

The men and women of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives love their job so much they are afraid to do it; because if they do it, they may lose it.

Professional golf may be the last sport to maintain a strong sense of manners.