On W. C. Fields’s Tombstone
In Joseph Epstein’s recent book, Essays in Biography, we find a chapter entitled “Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.” It is obviously an essay devoted to the great comedian W. C. Fields. I have often wondered: What would happen to me if I did not take Field’s famous...Intellectual Courage and the Bitter Truth
On Essays and LettersIn the handsome new book, The Loss and Recovery of Truth (St. Augustine’s Press), we find a short 1978 essay of Gerhart Niemeyer. It was written on the occasion of two commencement addresses. One was the justly famous Harvard Address of Alexander...On General Wolfe’s Preference
On Essays and LettersWill Cuppy (1884–1948) was born in Auburn, Indiana, and he is buried there. He attended the University of Chicago and dithered with a higher degree. He wrote a number of books, the first of which I have. It is called How to Get from January to...On Avoiding ‘Prosperous Wickedness’
On Essays and LettersOn my desk, I have a copy of the 2003 Penguin edition of Samuel Johnson, Selected Essays. When I turn on my computer to warm up, I have about two minutes of reading, which I do at random from Johnson. It is amazing what you find in Johnson. He was...
I think this little bit of background knowledge will be helpful to anyone who reads the recent review of our book from @ubookman @KirkCenter .
Gerald Russello and the Art of Memory---Dr. Dermot Quinn. "Churches, buildings, monuments, gravestones, customs, habits of thought: none of them make any sense without the historical grammar by which to interpret them."