There is perhaps no greater symbol of the emerging twentieth century than the humble automobile. Bicycle mechanics J. Frank and Charles Duryea of Springfield, Massachusetts, designed the first successful American gasoline automobile in 1893, then won the first American car race in 1895, capturing the public's imagination. They then went on to make the first … Continue reading Birth of A Rite of Passage

"And so we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past." One of the most beautiful sentences in American literature, ending one of the most beautiful books in all of American literature. And not just according to me, although I've made secret of my love for Fitzgerald's masterpiece, published on this … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Old Sport

The story, at first glance, seems harmless, at least by today's standards. It opens on the Arthur Shelby plantation in Kentucky as two enslaved people, Tom and 4-year old Harry, are sold to pay Shelby family debts. We then shift focus onto two protagonists; Tom, a strong, religious man living with his wife and three … Continue reading A Book and A War

In 1835, big changes started happening in Mexico. The country, which had won its independence from Spain in 1821 after more than a decade of fighting, The first constitution, known as the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 which inaugurated the First Mexican Republic, was repealed. A new constitution, Las Siete Leyes, … Continue reading Remember the Alamo!

On this day back in 1939, a Nazi rally was held. That in and of itself is not surprising. The Nazi power was, after all, gaining rapid grounds and becoming wildly popular within Germany, with their fiery leader riling up both nationalist pride and antisemitic vitriol as his power grew. By this time, he'd already … Continue reading On American Soil…

On this day back in 1937, readers were introduced to George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers moving from place to place in California searching for jobs during the Great Depression. The writer was a relatively new one, just gaining public attention with his previous novel, Tortilla Flat, but still a few … Continue reading “You ain’t gonna leave me, are ya, George? I know you ain’t.”

At a graduation ceremony at a church in Geneva, New York on January 23, 1849, Geneva Medical College in New York bestowed a medical degree upon Elizabeth Blackwell. A rather ordinary ceremony. A rather ordinary happenstance. Except it wasn't. For Blackwell was the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree. And … Continue reading Bucking The System

On this day back in 1493, noted explorer Christopher Columbus, while sailing near what is now the Dominican Republic, noticed something shocking. Grabbing his log book, he wrote, "...when I was going to the Rio del Oro, I saw three sirens that came up very high out of the sea." Sirens. Not the woo-woo kind … Continue reading Oh Look–A Mermaid!

"Marley was dead: to begin with." A rather macabre start a Christmas story, and yet its legacy is such that almost everyone, whether they've read the book or not, can immediately place the sentence in its proper context. I'm talking about A Christmas Carol, of course, one of the most well-known and beloved works by … Continue reading Marley Was Dead