As a literature teacher, I run into the same problem when my kids read Shakespeare. I have to explain that comedy is usually a product of its time and doesn't hold up over the years, which is why most of Shakespeare's humor goes over their heads.
I liked YOUR anecdote here in Grand Rapids when you presented your book on Grant- about being on book tour and saying you wanted to write a book about a civil war General and mentioned Sherman and the room got quiet and you remembered you were in Atlanta hahahaha.
I also recall your comment about wanting to do a "multi volume history of the USA" to which your publisher shook his head "no" and said nobody reads them. So I think you took the correct - and dynamic - approach utilizing biographies of individual Americans to span the breadth of US history since your biographies overlap.
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2000),
The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace (2012),
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2008),
Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution (2021),
The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom (2020),
American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900 (2010),
The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr [American Portraits series] (2012),
So far these are the books I have read from your extensive bibliography! Two or three have your signature from book signings here in Grand Rapids.
Look forward to reading more
Sorry- read Meacham's American Lion on Andy Jackson :)
Although far - very far! - from being an H. W. Brands, I too have spoken on presidential humor. These were at conferences on pop culture and folklore. One paper was on LBJ; the other was on Bill Clinton. Many of the jokes were either sex jokes or sick jokes. Some were obviously jokes; others were anecdotes which may have been apocryphal. One example: LBJ was jealous of Kennedy's reputation as a ladies' man. He allegedly said in reply: "Hell, I've made more women by accident than Kennedy ever did on purpose."
As a literature teacher, I run into the same problem when my kids read Shakespeare. I have to explain that comedy is usually a product of its time and doesn't hold up over the years, which is why most of Shakespeare's humor goes over their heads.
I liked YOUR anecdote here in Grand Rapids when you presented your book on Grant- about being on book tour and saying you wanted to write a book about a civil war General and mentioned Sherman and the room got quiet and you remembered you were in Atlanta hahahaha.
I also recall your comment about wanting to do a "multi volume history of the USA" to which your publisher shook his head "no" and said nobody reads them. So I think you took the correct - and dynamic - approach utilizing biographies of individual Americans to span the breadth of US history since your biographies overlap.
The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin (2000),
The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace (2012),
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (2008),
Our First Civil War: Patriots and Loyalists in the American Revolution (2021),
The Zealot and the Emancipator: John Brown, Abraham Lincoln and the Struggle for American Freedom (2020),
American Colossus: The Triumph of Capitalism, 1865-1900 (2010),
The Heartbreak of Aaron Burr [American Portraits series] (2012),
So far these are the books I have read from your extensive bibliography! Two or three have your signature from book signings here in Grand Rapids.
Look forward to reading more
Sorry- read Meacham's American Lion on Andy Jackson :)
I am flattered that you had the stamina to read all those.
Although far - very far! - from being an H. W. Brands, I too have spoken on presidential humor. These were at conferences on pop culture and folklore. One paper was on LBJ; the other was on Bill Clinton. Many of the jokes were either sex jokes or sick jokes. Some were obviously jokes; others were anecdotes which may have been apocryphal. One example: LBJ was jealous of Kennedy's reputation as a ladies' man. He allegedly said in reply: "Hell, I've made more women by accident than Kennedy ever did on purpose."
oops forgot this good one
Heirs of the Founders: The Epic Rivalry of Henry Clay, John Calhoun and Daniel Webster, the Second Generation of American Giants
Having a clear sense of humor indicates a clear sense of humanity as well. It's hard for me to trust people without either trait.