Category Archives: Books and Culture

What next? Jefferson? D.C.?

Posted on August 15, 2017 by

The statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville should not be pulled down. Or rather, I should prefer that it not be pulled down. There’s a difference. To eradicate every symbol of every political or cultural wrong in this or … Continue reading →

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New “Lost Prov” book page

Posted on August 6, 2017 by

Today marks the official launch of ” ‘Lost Providence’: the book” – a new page on my blog with all the news about the book. It reveals how to buy the book and where its author will speak about the … Continue reading →

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“Lost Providence” update

Posted on July 28, 2017 by

A month from today Lost Providence goes on sale. That’s Monday, August 28. In fact, it already can be pre-ordered. And, to revise and extend my book’s remarks (as they say in Congress), my publisher, History Press, and I are … Continue reading →

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Beauty, nature or nurture?

Posted on July 4, 2017 by

I often repeat the idea that our love for beauty – and for architecture whose ornament stimulates that love – arises from our prehistoric neurobiology. Primitive man on the savannah needed to be aware of details revealing dangers to be … Continue reading →

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“Lost Providence” update

Posted on July 1, 2017 by

Yesterday, the author’s allotment of five (5) free copies of his book arrived at his happy household in Providence. Today, I started reading it to my wife, and when it goes on sale this August 28 I will start hectoring … Continue reading →

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Our pushy American tongue

Posted on June 27, 2017 by

As a proud owner of one of the several editions of H.L. Mencken’s The American Language, I was tickled to see him cited in an essay about how, after a battle of centuries, American English has conquered English English. The … Continue reading →

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Westminister Street daze

Posted on June 22, 2017 by

Channel 12 News reported last night that Westminster Street is spelled Westminister Street on a couple of signs in downtown Providence, one of them at the corner of Empire Street. And that it has been that way for years. And … Continue reading →

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Clam shack casino in R.I.

Posted on May 19, 2017 by

My wife’s longtime friend Christopher Scott Martin (that’s three first names!) is the author, with David Norton Stone, of Rhode Island Clam Shacks, pub- lished in April under the Images of America imprint of Arcadia Publishing. We went to the … Continue reading →

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My auction bid for Hazlitt

Posted on May 14, 2017 by

Here’s the column I described in my post earlier today, “Surrounded by beauty,” about attending the Bruneau & Co. auction showroom, in Cranston. *** January 26, 1989 Supply versus demand at its worst: Two book lovers chasing one book All … Continue reading →

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25 million books in limbo

Posted on April 27, 2017 by

The latest Atlantic Monthly (as it was once called) has a fascinating piece called “Torching the Modern-Day Library of Alexandria,” by James Somers. It chills me to realize that but for a judge’s diktat, 25 million books – not pages, … Continue reading →

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