Twentieth Century
In which I pull another long-unread book off the To-Be-Read shelf:
There was a time when I felt guilty about the number of unread books sitting on my shelves. They come in faster than I can read them.* I don’t feel guilty anymore. More than once over the course of writing this book, I’ve found exactly the book I need sitting on my shelves waiting its…
Read More
Road Trip Through History: The Mother Jones Monument
Driving from Chicago to the Missouri Ozarks and back over the last mumble years,(1) I have passed the sign for the Mother Jones monument many, many times. It is a plain, almost amateurish, sign, without the official imprimatur(2) of a brown tourist attraction sign(3) or the flash of billboard advertising a show in Branson. Nothing…
Read More
From the Archives: You think one vote doesn’t matter? Hah!
I have told this story here on the Margins before. But with the midterm elections only a few days away, I think it’s important to remember right now that in the end the 19th Amendment was ratified thanks to one man’s vote. In August, 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment; 36 states were…
Read More