APPALACHIAN SUMMER: LEXINGTON, KY, AUGUST 2nd
Cara took us to a very stylish Mexican restaurant called Coba, which had a jellyfish tank, and where I proved incapable of ordering a fish taco.
APPALACHIAN SUMMER: PERRYVILLE, KY, AUGUST 1st
Given the size of the armies engaged, the Battle of Perryville, fought on October 8, 1862, was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. Generally thought of as a confederate tactical victory but a Federal strategic victory–what that means is that after a ferocious, day-long the rebels forced the Yanks to withdraw from …
APPALACHIAN SUMMER: LOUISVILLE, KY, JULY 31st
We really enjoyed visiting the Muhammad Ali Center in downtown Louisville. I was impressed how the center handled all aspects of Ali’s career–boxer, activist, humanitarian–in a straightforward, warts-and-all manner. You hear him calling white people `devils’; you also hear him say that a 60 year old man who thinks the same things that he did …
APPALACHIAN SUMMER: MAMMOTH CAVE, KY, JULY 30th
Well, it was a cave, and it was mammoth. We took the short tour, and we were sated. Lots like this. The Park Ranger who guided the tour was very good. Later we visited Lincoln’s birthplace at Sinking Springs, most memorable for a majestic temple which contains a replica of the humble log cabin where …
APPALACHIAN SUMMER: MATEWAN, WVA, JULY 29th
West Virginia, astonishingly vertical, rises like a wall nearly everywhere but right in front of you. The highways cut like ribbons through the hills, while below grade, little communities huddle in the hollers. We got off the highway and followed a thin road to Matewan (that’s MATE-wan), a coal and railroad town. Now kind of …
APPALACHIAN SUMMER: CHIEF LOGAN WVA, MONDAY, JULY 29th, 8:00 AM
View from our hotel balcony.
ART DONOVAN, 1924-2013
Art Donovan, the exemplary defensive tackle of the great Baltimore Colt teams of the 1950s, died in Baltimore. Among his other distinguished accomplishments, he was the subject of one of my first articles, in Sports Illustrated: Fans who tune in to Late Night With David Letterman get a special treat from time to time, when …
TALKING DISUNION IN MANHATTAN
hanks to the folks at Jackson-McNally Bookstore in Soho for hosting a panel discussion by three of us who have been contributors to The New York Times‘ Disunion series, and to the new compilation of pieces from the series published by Black Dog & Levanthal. Clay Risen of the Times, Ted Widmer of Brown University, …
NULLIFICATION, SECESSION, AND NOW OBSTRUCTIONISM
One of the pitfalls in writing about the Civil War is the tendency to see things through a Civil War lens. As a result, one sometimes sees connections between phenomena and events that have no business being tied together. And that’s what may be going on here. Still, when one reads in the Times about …
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TAKE WEINER OFF THE GRILL. . .
. . .he’s done. As the New York Post reported yesterday, “The other shoe dropped yesterday for Anthony Weiner, who was forced to admit he engaged in a months-long sexting affair with a woman — a year after he resigned from Congress in disgrace — using the bizarre online alias Carlos Danger. Weiner copped to …