“The mind of the bigot is like the pupil of the eye; the more light you pour upon it, the more it will contract.” —O.W. Holmes Jr. In July 1865 John R. Dennett, a Massachusetts journalist and recent graduate of Harvard College, arrived in Norfolk, Virginia, the first stop on an eight-month journey that would...
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Lady and the Vamp
“No womman of no clerk is praised.” —Chaucer An old-fashioned historian can be forgiven for feeling a touch of empathy for the bewildered Egyptians upon whom Yahweh emptied the vessels of wrath some 3,500 years ago. The Hebrews’ God plagued the Egyptians for a matter of days, but the stern Minerva who reigns over academe...
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The Radical Virus
Tom Schachtman: Decade of Shocks: Dallas to Watergate, 1963-1974; Poseidon Press; New York. Allen J. Matusow: The Unraveling of America: A History of Liberalism in the 1960’s; Harper & Row; New York. Pity the lot of the American radical of recent vintage. Never does the opportunity arise for him to spill his blood...