British drum an object of storied history
There is a story behind the British drum that was shown with Bruce W. Dearstyne’s May 31 Perspective article on the importance of New York history. It was left behind by a British army that was within...
View ArticleGeorge Washington would be disappointed
In his column in yesterday’s New York Times (7-07-09) David Brooks discussed an eighteenth-century English manual, “Rules of Civility and Decent Company and Conversation,” whose 110 precepts George...
View ArticleTwo exhibits connecting us to our Hudson River history
Two exhibits are currently being held in Albany to commemorate Henry Hudson’s discovery in 1609 of the river that now bears his name. One exhibit is at the State Museum, the other is at the Albany...
View ArticleAn appreciation of upstate New York’s riches
Two English friends visited me this weekend to find out whatever they could about an ancestor, Gideon Hawley, who helped lay the foundations for the Normal School in Albany, which was to become today’s...
View ArticleClosing Schuyler Mansion? What are they thinking?
The mere mention of closing Schuyler Mansion as a response to New York’s fiscal problems is enough to make the head reel with disbelief. What are they thinking? Schuyler Mansion is one of Colonial...
View ArticleTwo colleagues, two books
Two books have come to my attention recently that, different as they are, are of great interest to me and I should think to any one interested in the historic role of Albany and New York during the...
View ArticleRevolutionary Insights
The story below was written by Paul Grondahl and featured in the Times Union on Sunday, Nov. 7. – — – — – – ALBANY — It took a detour on a bicycle ride for Warren Roberts, a distinguished professor of...
View ArticleOn Kennedy and public service
Here is a guest post from Anne Roberts, wife of Professor Warren Roberts and herself a retired UAlbany professor: We had just moved to Albany that fall, after being in Berkeley, CA for some five...
View ArticleAffairs of the heart, affairs of the state
Plans for a State Dinner at the White House ran into unexpected complications when planners were informed that Valérie Trierweiler, the female companion (lover, mistress, whatever) of President...
View ArticleTocqueville, Albany and America
Here is a follow-up post to my recent writing on Rossini. It shows the connection between Rossini and Albany, an indirect one, but intriguing. It follows another Rossini-Albany connection, Mme de La...
View ArticleRossini, revolution and Albany
Continuing on the Rossini theme, let’s look at the composer’s connection to monarchy, revolution and Albany, NY, of all places… Rossini became the most famous opera composer in Europe in the seven...
View ArticleTwo athletes who took different paths
Two stories that appeared this week made me think about change in America after World War II. Both stories pertain to athletes who in rather different ways made the news this week. One might find no...
View ArticleWrongs of the past
I made invidious comparisons in my last blog between the America in which I went to high school and college, the 1940s and 1950s, to today’s America, with a video game store in Crossgates as the main...
View ArticleWhy does 2014 remind me of 1777?
Trying to decide what to do with ISIS is a real problem for President Obama and those around him. What strategy, what approach, should they follow? Our own experience when we became a nation offers...
View ArticleWashington gridlock then and now
Continuing the political storm theme… The turbulence of today’s political storm that has engulfed the presidency of Barack Obama could hardly be more different from the experience of America’s first...
View ArticleChance meeting leads to a Tiffany moment
Someone ran to catch up with me the other day when I was taking my daily walk on the beach in Florida, where I now live full-time. I had spoken to the guy and his wife twice before. They live in...
View ArticleQuestions of war and guilt and shame
A documentary on the 1968 My Lai massacre on “American Experience” on PBS raises difficult questions about war guilt. Watch it online here. There is no doubt about what American soldiers did in a...
View ArticleWhen Patton slapped the soldier…
I just saw the movie, “Patton,” with George C. Scott in the title role. It was the first time I had seen it since it first appeared in 1970. I remembered the movie well, better than I would have...
View ArticleOn David McCullough’s visit to Albany
Paul Grondahl has written an article in the Times Union about a talk that David McCullough will give this Wednesday at the State Education Department Building. This isn’t the first time that McCullough...
View ArticleIf Charleston flies the Confederate flag, should Berlin fly the swastika?
Having just watched “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning has helped clarify my thinking about several issues, including flying the “Confederate flag” in front of the South Carolina State House. This is...
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