Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- “I prefer a national film to an international film.” — Jean-Paul Belmondo
- “Sometimes I can sing it when I can’t say it.” — Carl Perkins
- “I never wanted to be this famous. I never imagined this life for myself.” — Kristen Stewart
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 2
- “I never was good at sightseeing yet it must be done.” — William Wordsworth
- “It sounds like something from a Woody Guthrie song, but it’s true; I was raised in a freight car.” — Merle Haggard
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- “There won’t be another Bette Davis. There can’t be.” Mitchell and I discuss Bette Davis
- “I’d marry again if I found a man who had fifteen million dollars, would sign over half to me and guarantee that he’d be dead within a year.” — Bette Davis
- In the Criterion Closet
Recent Comments
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Troy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Ian on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- jeanie laub on Happy Birthday, Dean Stockwell
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- Bryan Summers on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Henry IV, Part 1
- sheila on In the Criterion Closet
- DBW on In the Criterion Closet
- sheila on Coming soon …
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Maddy on Coming soon …
- Maddy on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- Dan on March 2026 Snapshots
- Sheila on “Life was bitter and I was not. All around me was poverty and sordidness but I refused to see it that way. By turning it into jokes, I made it bearable.” — Max Shulman
- Robert McCarville on “Life was bitter and I was not. All around me was poverty and sordidness but I refused to see it that way. By turning it into jokes, I made it bearable.” — Max Shulman
-
Tag Archives: Federalist Papers
“Our prevailing passions are ambition and interest. Wise government should avail itself of those passions, to make them subservient to the public good.” — Alexander Hamilton
It’s Alexander Hamilton’s birthday … or thereabouts. The year is in question (he often lied about his age), but January 11 is generally agreed-upon as the day he came into this fallen world. “Give all power to the many, they … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, politics, war
20 Comments
My second move in a year
Library getting packed up again. I’m too old for this shit. So this bookcase is half-packed and what is there is random, but it makes a pretty funny collage. — Dad’s book on Anglo-Irish literature (dedicated to Mum) — my … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Movies, Personal
Tagged Annie Proulx, Bringing Up Baby, Elvis Presley, family, Federalist Papers, Liz Phair, Marcel Proust, Pauline Kael, William Shakespeare
2 Comments
Recommended Books: Non-Fiction
I have been meaning to do a Part 2 to my Recommended Books: Fiction list – put together years ago. I wanted to recommend non-fiction, from history books to biographies to essays to whatever. Here is the Non-Fiction list. I’ve … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers, Theatre
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, Afghanistan, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Alexander Hamilton, Austria, Balkan Ghosts, Balkans, baseball, Belfast, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon, Catherine Drinker-Bowen, Central Asia, China, Crowds and Power, Dava Sobel, David McCullough, Edmund Burke, Edvard Radzinsky, Elias Canetti, Elvis Presley, England, Federalist Papers, Founding Brothers, France, Germany, Group Theatre, Gulag Archipelago, Hitler, Hunter S. Thompson, Imperium, Ireland, Iris Chang, Isaac Newton, James Madison, Janet Malcolm, Japan, Joseph Ellis, Michael Schmidt, Miracle at Philadelphia, nonfiction, Olivia Laing, Philip Gourevitch, poetry, Primo Levi, Rasputin, Rebecca West, Red Sox, Robert Conquest, Robert Kaplan, Roman empire, Russia, Rwanda, Ryszard Kapuściński, science, Serbia, Stalin, The Great Terror, The Soccer War, Tom Wolfe, true crime, Ukraine, Vincent Bugliosi, William Shakespeare, WWI, WWII, Yugoslavia
19 Comments
Bookshelf Tour #2
A section of primary sources section. To anyone who knows my script (July and Half of August), you’ll see where the whole Warren Report joke comes from. On one of my tours of Graceland, they had Elvis’ books laid out … Continue reading
Today in history: March 16, 1751
James Madison, fourth President of the United States, was born on this day in Virginia. “The principles and modes of government are too important to be disregarded by an inquisitive mind, and I think are well worthy of a critical … Continue reading
Happy Birthday, James Madison
… fourth President of the United States, born on this day in Virginia, 1751. “The principles and modes of government are too important to be disregarded by an inquisitive mind, and I think are well worthy of a critical examination … Continue reading
Happy birthday, John Jay
God’s will be done; to him I resignin him I confide. Do the like. Any other philosophy applicable to this occasion is delusive. Away with it. — Letter to his wife, Sally Jay, April 20, 1794 John Jay was born … Continue reading
The Books: “The Federalist Papers” (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay)
Next in my Daily Book Excerpt: Next book in my Political section: The Federalist Papers, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay. Written in a period of months from 1787 to 1788 – spearheaded by Alexander Hamilton (otherwise known … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, James Madison, political philosophy, politics
9 Comments
In honor of James Madison
… the fourth President of the United States … … who wrote: “What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers, On This Day
Tagged Federalist Papers, James Madison, politics, war
1 Comment
1787: Federalist 1: “you are invited to deliberate upon a new Constitution for the United States of America”
Here is the ringing first paragraph of Federalist 1, written by Alexander Hamilton, published on October 27, 1787, in the “New York Independent Journal” – the first of 85 essays (written by Alexander Hamilton mostly, but James Madison wrote Federalst … Continue reading
Posted in Founding Fathers
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers, politics
Comments Off on 1787: Federalist 1: “you are invited to deliberate upon a new Constitution for the United States of America”

