Andrew SzantonSam Rayburn: An Old-Fashioned Texas DemocratSAM RAYBURN, born on a farm in Roane County, Tennessee in 1882, grew up outside Bonham, Texas and became a famous and powerful Speaker of…Aug 9Aug 9
Andrew SzantonThe Extraordinary Mary Tyler MooreMARY TYLER MOORE, born in Brooklyn in 1936, and raised mostly in Los Angeles, starred in two of the great TV sit-coms of all-time: “The…Aug 3Aug 3
Andrew SzantonRaymond Chandler: Master of a Moral Shadow LandRAYMOND CHANDLER has written more evocatively about Los Angeles than anyone else. Chandler wrote “The Big Sleep” (1939), “Farewell My…Jul 291Jul 291
Andrew SzantonThe Andrews Sisters: Singing Through World War TwoWhen Olga Sollie, a Norwegian-American Lutheran, married Greek-American Peter Andreas in Minnesota in 1910, Olga’s parents were unhappy…Jul 201Jul 201
Andrew SzantonPhilip Curtin: A West Virginia Historian Ponders IndependenceBeing an historian is for me a “road not taken” and I hope all these profiles of Americans that I post might collectively constitute some…Jul 13Jul 13
Andrew SzantonA Serial Killer in ConnecticutAMY ARCHER-GILLIGAN lived in 1900 on Prospect Street just north of the Windsor Green, in Windsor, Connecticut. She operated The Archer Home…Jul 10Jul 10
Andrew SzantonBaxter Black, the Cowboy PoetBAXTER BLACK, a cowboy poet from New Mexico, was born at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital in 1945 while his father Robert was serving in the…Jul 1Jul 1
Andrew SzantonLarissa FastHorse: Lakota PlaywrightLARISSA FAStHORSE, the Lakota (“Sioux”) playwright, was raised largely in the town of Winner, South Dakota. Her father was a full-blood…Jun 172Jun 172
Andrew SzantonJerry West: A Perfectionist in an Imperfect WorldJust a few days after the passing of Bill Walton, another NBA icon is gone, and I feel sad. This is my profile of the great JERRY WEST.Jun 131Jun 131
Andrew SzantonNikole Hannah-Jones and the 1619 ProjectNIKOLE HANNAH-JONES, the journalist and African-American activist, has raised essential questions about the United States, what our nation…Jun 10Jun 10