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Do You Really Want To Be Rich?
Two reviews: THE MONEY GAME, by Adam Smith Putting your money in the stock market: is it a gamble, or is it an investment? Does the...
Dec 13, 20215 min read
Mastering Self
Mastering Self: Three Reviews I CAN IF I WANT TO, by Arnold Lazarus and Allen Fay “We are not disturbed by things—external events—but by...
Dec 13, 20214 min read
A Change of Head & Heart
It was like a religious conversion—a profound altering of thought, a decided charge of heart, and a rechartering of course. For Supreme...
Dec 13, 20214 min read
A Highway Runs Through it
“There’s America, there’s the South, then there’s Mississippi.” So said President Lyndon Johnson. He might have added, “And then there’s...
Dec 13, 20213 min read
The Bearded Presidents
They're the Bearded Presidents—or, if you will, the Great Emancipator and the Seven Dwarfs. No president before or after these...
Sep 27, 202110 min read
Ted Koppel and the Ten Commandments
Note: what follows was given to me as a letter some time around 1990: "In this time of commencement addresses, I recall one in...
Sep 27, 20214 min read
The C-Word
It’s the most famous dinner in U.S. history. It was hosted by Thomas Jefferson at his well-appointed townhouse on Maiden Lane, a stone’s...
Sep 27, 20215 min read
Do We Need Women in Government?
When women assume power in government, the world will become a kindler, gentler place. Says who? Well, Frank Capra for one. In his 1948...
Sep 27, 20213 min read
Ten Presidents in Ten Minutes--From John Q. Adams to James Buchanan
What makes a great president? “Great presidents possess, or are possessed by, a vision of an ideal America,” say the editors of the...
Sep 25, 202111 min read
The Supreme Court--A brief history
It was an eye-opening experience. In my last year of college I took two courses on Constitutional Law (Con Law I & II) and discovered...
Sep 25, 20216 min read
The Vision Thing and our first five Presidents
It was George H.W. Bush who made the expression famous, mainly because his critics said he lacked it. His predecessor Ronald Reagan had...
Sep 25, 20215 min read
Debunking a Myth
“This summer, when you become inundated with all the American bicentennial Fourth-of-July brouhaha, don’t forget you’re celebrating the...
Sep 25, 20214 min read
Two Books, Two Cities
Below are two book reviews I wrote for Amazon.com. The first book is about New York City under Dutch rule, the second is about the...
Sep 25, 20215 min read
A Gateway to the West
George Washington must have had an exceptional imagination. How else to explain his decision to lead an army of green farm boys against...
Sep 25, 20216 min read
The White House—A History in Five Minutes
The White House is a symbol of America, democracy and freedom. While it has changed significantly over the past 215 years, it remains...
Sep 25, 202110 min read
Lincoln dignified the trade of politician like few others
Stephen Spielberg's 2013 movie "Lincoln' is as much about the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment as it is about our 16th president. This...
Sep 25, 20214 min read
The Washington Monument
It’s the most famous room in the world. It’s where Presidents address the nation, especially in times of crisis. It’s the room where...
Sep 25, 20217 min read
The Spirit of '76
Why did the American Revolution succeed while so many revolutions that followed result in so much bloodletting? The answer is not that...
Sep 25, 20212 min read
The Second Great Awakening
Tents going up on the edge of town. Overflowing crowds, and preachers shouting fire and brimstone, and everyone half-expecting the skies...
Sep 25, 20212 min read
The Great Awakening
It was after the American Revolution, after everything had been settled and the future of the new republic looked promising. Thomas...
Sep 25, 20212 min read
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