Meet Susan Clark, the First Black Child to Go to a Desegregated School
The first African-American child who won court approval to attend a whites-only school was Susan Clark in Muscatine, Iowa in 1868.
Biographies
College Football Time is F. Scott Fitzgerald Time
Blustery September Saturdays mean it’s time for an annual reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s sporting masterpiece The Bowl. This is not The Cut-Glass Bowl, Fitzgerald’s more famous (and gloomier) short …..
Apollo 11 Biographies, 50 Years After These Amazing Guys Walked on the Moon
Here they are: the three brave humans who flew to the moon 50 years ago. Two of them walked on its surface. The three are: Commander Neil Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins, …..
Jeffrey Epstein Biography — New!
Our biography of once (and future?) convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is now live. Jeffrey Epstein is the mysteriously wealthy money manager who was convicted 13 years ago of the …..
Mister Rogers Gets a Visit from the Wicked Witch of the West
Apropos of nothing: here’s a wonderful episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in which the visitor is actress Margaret Hamilton, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West in the …..
Doris Day and Carol Channing, Linked Forever in Death
Actress, singer and eternal nice girl Doris Day has died of pneumonia at age 97. (She fudged her age for years, but biographer David Kaufman finally pegged her birth year as …..
Pete Buttigieg Biography – New!
Our new biography of Pete Buttigieg is now live. Pete Buttigieg, as has been widely reported, has unusual credentials for a modern presidential candidate. He is: Under 40 years of …..
One Year Later, Sluggo is *Still* Lit
It was the waning days of 2017, and Andrews McMeel was looking to make a change. The venerable comic “Nancy” had been around for eight decades, and the syndicate was …..
Women’s History Month Profile: Jessie Simmons Fought for Years Simply to Get a Teaching Job in Michigan
Guest post by Valerie Hill-Jackson, Texas A&M University/The Conversation Jessie Dean Gipson Simmons was full of optimism when she and her family moved from an apartment in a troubled area …..
Read Michael Caine’s Good-Natured Slag of ‘Jaws 4’
The great Michael Caine drops a quip about Jaws: The Revenge (in which he played “carefree airplane pilot” Hoagie Newcombe): He’s the best. The quote was prompted by a comment from Ricky …..