Seward Signed Copies
I have just returned from Water Street Books in Exeter, where I signed several copies of the Seward book for people around the country. If you are interested in getting a signed copy of Seward, call up Water Street at 603-778-9731. If all you want is my signature, they have such copies in stock, you…
Read MoreCalifornia
I am back in Exeter after ten days and six book events in California. Some events were crowded, others less so, but that is the life of a traveling author. I naturally emphasized Seward’s connections with California: how his first great speech was a speech in favor of the immediate admission of California and (also)…
Read MoreCum Laude
The Cum Laude Society is the high school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa: an elite academic honor society. Here at Exeter, about twenty percent of each year’s graduating class is honored with Cum Laude membership. An even smaller group, about five percent of each year’s senior class, is honored with early membership in Cum Laude.…
Read MoreCSPAN
While in Washington last week, I was interviewed by Brian Lamb of CSPAN for his show Q&A. It was a long interview, almost an hour, and a serious one: he had read the book carefully and had lots of good questions. The interview will air on CSPAN on November 4, 2012, at 8 pm and…
Read Moreon the road again
I am in Boston airport this morning, heading down to DC, for more than a week of events. First up is an interview with CSPAN. I had assumed when this was first set up that it would be a few minutes; I find that it will be almost an hour of questions about my life…
Read MoreExeter Event
I spoke last night to an enthusiastic audience at the Exeter Historical Society. It meant so much to speak both to a few of those who taught me, years ago at Exeter, and those whom I am teaching now, in the mock trial club. I hope that my presentation lived up to the mock trial…
Read MoreJay and Jay’s Treaty
Here is what I will say today about Jay and Jay’s Treaty. President Washington faced many serious foreign policy challenges. The British had agreed, in the treaty of peace negotiated by Jay and Franklin and Adams, to evacuate the western forts, at Niagara and Detroit and so on. They did not: and they had Indian…
Read MoreJay and the Federalist
Here, roughly, is what I will say today if time permits about John Jay and the Federalist. The Constitution, when it was published by the Philadelphia Convention in September 1787, was just a proposal. It would only take effect once it was ratified by conventions in nine of the thirteen states. Those who favored ratification…
Read MoreReviews/Events
My Seward book has now been reviewed in the New Yorker and in the Economist. The New Yorker review is not the customary few sentences; it is several pages, a long essay about Seward and his role in American history. The reviewer said some very nice things: the book is “masterly,” a “subtle portrait of…
Read MoreSeward and Auburn
This is roughly what I said on September 18 about Seward and Auburn. I do not feel the need, with this audience, to answer the question I often have to answer: who was William Henry Seward? Instead I propose to talk about Seward and Auburn: about why he came to live here, why he spent…
Read More