On June 22, 1938 thousands of boxing fans poured through the turnstiles at Yankee Stadium. Most couldn’t wait to to boo Max Schmeling, the German fighter they viewed as Hitler’s white hope against African-American heavyweight…
Posts published in “Essays”
A Friday night search for ice cream in Hades… On a warm Friday afternoon in late May 1974, Terrence and I decided to take “the Raiz Diabolicum,” the diabolical or devil's root, the conquering Spanish…
Ray Charles distrusted people, naturally. But it was, well, eye-opening to realize how his blindness lead to his distrust. We recently had a chance to re-review the movie-biography of Ray Charles, simply called “Ray.” It…
Intro: I voted for Jill Stein, of course, but I was rooting for Kamala Harris. Not for any noble reason, like “the lesser evil,” but for a crass reason: a possible book contract. Kamala was…
Here comes Thanksgiving, a once-grand holiday of sharing and gratitude, slowly having the joy wrung out of it by the usual mob of angry dimwits who spend their days moaning and weeping over the fact…
Once I had a good friend who called himself Captain Fathom. He said I was his best friend. He asked me to publish his memoirs. He paid for the printing and kept all the profits.…
The first half of the German seventeenth century was a time and place of short men with well-tended facial hair. The prevailing style dictated long, groomed mustaches and goatees tucked against starched ruffs that rode…