Research
a kind of Mephistopheles
People often ask how I do research, and the short answer is that I find books and articles and documents, and use those to find other books, articles and documents. Today, for example, I am reading a book called The North Reports the Civil War. I have had this book on my “bibliography” for a…
Read MoreLincoln Forum
I am just back from an exciting weekend in Gettysburg, attending the Lincoln Forum. It is a great event, which I commend to anyone interested in Lincoln or the Civil War. Let me mention some of the high points. John Stauffer spoke about the the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I thought I knew about…
Read MoreDonald B. Cole
Yesterday I attended the memorial service for my history teacher and mentor, Donald Barnard Cole. It was a wonderful service, filled with music and laughter, stories and tears. I learned a great deal about Mr. Cole, and thought I would share here some of my own memories of him. I first got to know Mr.…
Read MoreSkeptical Biographer
One of the great reasons to live where we do is the Phillips Exeter Academy Library. I can WALK to the library, indeed when I walk our dog Sunny, we generally walk to the library and back, just to enjoy the view from there of the Academy Building. I have been known to tie Sunny…
Read MoreTwenty Clerks
Those of you have read my review of the recent Wilson biography XX know that I have strong views on footnotes. Every historian, I believe, owes footnotes to future historians. It is only through good footnotes that one historian can retrace the steps of a prior historian, confirm whether the work is accurate, assess whether…
Read MoreIndex Issues
I am reading today Washington In Lincoln’s Time, by Noah Brooks. Most scholars work with the edited version, published by Herbert Mitgang in 1958. Mitgang’s book has some useful notes and pictures, but I am working instead with the online version of the original version, published by Century in 1896. Why? The INDEX. According to…
Read MoreEnd of Summer
Summer is coming to an end. We are in southern California, starting tomorrow to drive back to New Hampshire, which we hope to reach in five days. As you can see from the events list, I have a number of Seward events this fall: in New England, New York, and Washington. I did not really…
Read MoreSummer
A few months back I had envisaged this as a summer devoted to Stanton. And it still will be, to some extent. But it is also a summer devoted to other things. I am headed tomorrow to Nantucket, where I will speak about Seward, but also spend time with parents, friends, hopefully meet some other…
Read MoreThomas & Hyman
A serious biographer has a love-hate relationship with the prior biography of his subject. At least, that is my relation with the biography of Stanton by Benjamin Thomas and Harold Hyman in 1962. On the one hand I love the book because it presents a full and fair view of Stanton: the best life of…
Read MoreLast Full Measure
My sister called yesterday, to read to me a note I wrote to her in May 1995, when I gave her a copy of “The Last Full Measure: The Life and Death of the First Minnesota Volunteers” by Richard Moe. That wonderful book, as the title implies, is a regimental history, of the first Minnesota…
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