Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, one of the most glamorous and fiercely private women of the twentieth century, spent more than thirty years as a regular visitor to the small village of Middleburg, Virginia because she loved foxhunting and horseback riding—but mostly because no one fussed over her or made a big deal when she was there.…
It's President's Day! Celebrate the history of our Commander in Chief with these excerpts and reviews of 8 great presidential mysteries. The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy The Great Abraham Lincoln Pocket Watch Conspiracy by Jacopo Della Quercia is a historical-fiction, steampunk, sci-fi, comedy-noir mashup that features a globetrotting President Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.…
You only live once. Right? Chances are, unless you believe in reincarnation and are also peculiarly in touch with your past lives on this harsh and often beautiful planet, then your experience will be confined to one existence (never discounting the kindly tips you’ll pick up from friends and strangers). Perhaps you are a 32-year…
Roosevelt's Beast by Louis Bayard is a historical reimagining of a torturous 1914 scientific expedition to the Amazon, in which Theodore Roosevelt and his son Kermit are kidnapped by an unknown tribe who demand they hunt a mysterious and horrible beast (available March 18, 2014). One hundred years ago, in 1914, Theodore Roosevelt and his…
There seems to be a growing sub-genre these days of books drawing on the life and/or work of Edgar Allan Poe. Is some profound cultural force at work? I suspect the motives are more commercial. The fact is, Poe conjures—in a way that helps sell books. I don’t fault authors for appropriating Poe. Poe himself…
