Seward, the South, and the Constitution
This is roughly what I said on September 17, at Mississippi State, about Seward and the South and the Constitution:. I have two topics today: Seward’s relations with the South and his views on and role in the Constitution. The two topics are closely related, so it is appropriate that I should be here, in…
Read MoreLaunch
I am back in Exeter after two book events: one at Mississippi State and one in Auburn NY. I was the Constitution Day speaker in Mississippi, and so talked about Seward, the South, and the Constitution. There was a large audience, more than a hundred, mainly students. They listened attentively and had good questions. It…
Read MoreSeward Reviews
The first publication reviews of Seward have appeared. They are favorable; indeed the review in the Dallas Morning News could be described as glowing. It ends with the following: “Writing like that makes history come alive: a researcher digging into the mines of the past and quarrying new insight on an old story. Seward:…
Read MoreUpdate
Regular readers of this blog (if any) may be wondering where I am and what I am doing. I am in Newport Beach, California, in our new summer house here. We have been busy, the past few weeks, with designers, gardeners, painters, carpet people, plumbers, etc. There is still work to do, but the house…
Read MoreVA to CA, day six
At around ten this morning the phone rang, and our realtor asked if we were in California. “No,” said Lydia, looking at the desert all around us, “not yet.” “But we are in California,” I insisted, “we crossed an hour ago.” The reason Lydia did not think we were in California was that the first…
Read MoreVA to CA, day five
We were on the road early, about 7:30, and drove through miles of empty New Mexico. Not quite empty: there were a number of Indian reservations and Indian casinos. We reached Albequerque about 10:30, parked near the central square, and Lydia poked around the shops while Sunny and I read the newspaper. It was too…
Read MoreVA to CA, day four
We have reached the West. We started the day in western Arkansas, and by eight we were in Oklahoma. i was somewhat surprised that we did not see more oil wells, although we did see piping that could be for oil, could be for natural gas. We did see a number of Indian casinos, along…
Read MoreVA to CA, day three
We now have a rough structure for our days. I get up too early, go out running for a little while, return to find Lydia stirring. We get dressed, eat breakfast, pack up the room, depart. This morning we were on the road about 7:30, about as early as I have ever been on the…
Read MoreVA to CA, day two
Today was our first real day of travel, a full day on the road. The dog and I started the day with a short run in Lexington, Virginia. It is always hard to take a good run from a highway motel: you are a long way from the nice roads; you are in the midst…
Read MoreVA to CA, day one
As I mentioned in an earlier post, we are selling our house in Virginia, buying one in southern California. Today was our last day in the Virginia house: a sad day, because selling a house is not quite like selling or giving away a bit of furniture. A house is in a sense just a…
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