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At this point most readers don’t think of history as “the exact factual record of what definitely happened in the past.” Though there are as many different ways to phrase the idea as there are people expressing it (“History is written by the victors,” for example), I think it’s generally agreed upon that what we call “history” is a group project filled with agendas, biases, contexts, compromises, and broad agreements, that strives to help the present and the future through a better understanding of the past. But what does that idea look like in practice?

Known primarily as a playwright, Lillian Hellman (1905 – 1984) also wrote memoirs – An Unfinished Woman (1969), Pentimento:  A Book of Portraits (1973) and Scoundrel Time (1976).  And a novel – Maybe:  A Story (1980).

I have seen Brandi Carlile perform many times, and reader? I recommend it.

I’ve seen Brandi Carlile sing “Angel from Montgomery” with John Prine at the Newport Folk Festival, a handful of years before he passed away.

Humans see patterns in everything, whether patterns are actually there or not. So, if you tend to read a bunch of books at once, like I do sometimes, patterns will emerge. You’ll start to see trends, conversations, and threads through some of the different books you’re reading. Sometimes pulling at these threads can reveal real substance, interesting connections between disparate works. Sometimes, well, sometimes we see the face of Jesus in a piece of toast.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s (1859 – 1930) fictional detective Sherlock Holmes first appeared in 1887 in the novel A Study in Scarlet.  In total he wrote four novels and 56 short stories.  It didn’t take long for movie producers to find the Sherlock Holmes stories perfect for adaptation to the silver screen.

Remember that week where we all liked sea shanties? If you dug them, you may want to give Richard Thompson a try. 

Edith Newbold Jones Wharton (1862 – 1937) was born in New York City to a wealthy and socially prominent American family.  Her mother Lucretia Rhinelander was the great-granddaughter of the heroic Revolutionary War General Ebenezer Stevens and her father’s cousin was Caroline Schermerhorn Astor, who was simply knows as THE Mrs. Astor and whose son John Jacob Astor IV perished on the Titanic (1912).