I did an interview on my Berlin novel, "The Puzzle People," this past week in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Wall came down on November 9, 1989, when an East German bureaucrat accidentally announced the immediate opening of...
This week, as the world observed the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, one of the forgotten stories from the amazing year of 1989 was what took place in Leipzig, East Germany, just one month before the Wall came down on November 9. A Monday prayer...
It seems hard to imagine today, but the Nazis rose to power because they were considered a populist movement at one time, working for the common good. But how could people come to believe such a thing? I recently interviewed University of Illinois professor Peter...
If Mark Twain were alive today, he'd probably be burning up the Internet on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube, Tumblr, and LinkedIn. That's because Twain was quite the self-promoter and a lover of new technology, especially communications technology. I recently...
Sojourner Truth was once told that if she dared to preach, the building where she spoke would be burned. The famous abolitionist responded, "Then I will speak to the ashes." You gotta love it. This past weekend, actress Jennifer Goran and I encountered Sojourner Truth...
In the very early hours of May 13, 1862, a slave named Robert Smalls decided to make his move. Smalls had worked his way up to becoming a wheelman--a pilot--and the Confederates used him to steer the CSS Planter, an armed Rebel military transport during the Civil War....
A wrong turn triggered World War I. To find out how, check out a recent story that I wrote for the University of Illinois College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. A Wrong Turn in History
One hundred and fifty years ago this week, on February 17, 1864, a Confederate submarine made the first successful attack in history, sinking the USS Housatonic while trying to break the Federal blockade during the Civil War. Like a bee inserting its stinger and then...
Whenever I came off the field after a day playing vintage baseball, my hands were often stinging something fierce. That's because we played by 1860 rules, which meant NO GLOVES. And since I played third base for the Danville Voles, I sometimes had to field a sharp...