Categories
Archives
-

-
Recent Posts
- 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- “I don’t represent anything.” — Liz Phair
- “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- “Some syllables are swords.” — Metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan
- “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- “All I need to make a comedy is a park, a policeman and a pretty girl.” — Charlie Chaplin
- “As a cinematographer, I was always attracted to stories that have the potential to be told with as few words as possible.” — Reed Morano
- “Even though I’m writing about very dark material, it still feels like an escape hatch.” — Olivia Laing
- “It’s just one of the mysteries of filmmaking that sometimes you do something that you don’t even think it’s important, then it turns out to be.” — Lili Horvát
- “Ballet taught me to stay close to style and tone. Literature taught me to be concerned about the moral life.” — Joan Acocella
Recent Comments
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Scott Abraham on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- Mike Molloy on 2026 Shakespeare Reading Project: Much Ado About Nothing
- sheila on March 2026 Snapshots
- sheila on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- Jessie on March 2026 Snapshots
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Maddy on “I don’t really know why, but danger has always been an important thing in my life – to see how far I could lean without falling, how fast I could go without cracking up.” — William Holden
- sheila on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Helen Erwin Schinske on “To me, music is no joke and it’s not for sale.” — Ian MacKaye
- Joseph Pedulla on Susan Hayward Sleeps Raw
- sheila on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- P Nickel on “The realization of ignorance is the first act of knowing.” — Jean Toomer
- Melissa Sutherland on “For I am of the seed of the WELCH WOMAN and speak the truth from my heart.” — Christopher Smart
- Bryce on The Books: “Nine Stories”- ‘The Laughing Man’ (J.D. Salinger)
-
Tag Archives: James Madison
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
Today In History: May 25, 1787 “how thirteen independent states could share a government of tripartite powers”
May 25, 1787: the Constitutional Convention (although that would only be its name later; at the time it was called the “Federal Convention”) got underway. Most of the delegates had arrived, by that time, from their far-flung states, and May … 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
From the Stacks Challenge: Young Patriots: The Remarkable Story of Two Men. Their Impossible Plan and The Revolution That Created The Constitution
I finished my 4th book in the From the Stacks challenge: Young Patriots: The Remarkable Story of Two Men, Their Impossible Plan and the Revolution That Created the Constitution. I guess I would say that if you want to know … Continue reading
Young Patriots: For Constitutional Convention Fanatics
Constitutional Convention freaks, of which I am a proud member – you’ll definitely want to check out Young Patriots: The Remarkable Story of Two Men, Their Impossible Plan and the Revolution That Created the Constitution – by Charles Carami. It … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, politics
Leave a comment
The Books: “Miracle At Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May – September 1787” (Catherine Drinker Bowen)
Next on the US history shelf: Next book in my American history section is the classic, and one of my all-time favorites: Miracle At Philadelphia: The Story of the Constitutional Convention May – September 1787, by Catherine Drinker Bowen. She’s … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Founding Fathers
Tagged Catherine Drinker-Bowen, James Madison, Miracle at Philadelphia, politics, US history, war
3 Comments
Today in history: Sept. 18, 1793
Not only is today my sister Jean Grania’s birthday (yes, she was named for the female pirate Gráinne Ni Mhaille, our most illustrious ancestor) – but today is also the day that George Washington laid the cornerstone for the US … Continue reading

