Marc JohnsonMar 24, 20154 minStrong InsideI love college basketball and of course the love affair is in full blossom this time of year. My romance began in 1966 when a bunch of un...
Marc JohnsonMar 24, 20154 minStrong InsideI love college basketball and of course the love affair is in full blossom this time of year. My romance began in 1966 when a bunch of un...
Marc JohnsonJun 16, 20145 minNothing Easy About It[Milan] – Over the weekend the newspapers in France were reporting on one of the worst national rail strikes in memory. The strike was pr...
Marc JohnsonDec 26, 20133 minThe Year in BooksI did something this year that I have never done before. I kept track of everything I read. The list is eclectic, heavy on non-fiction, a...
Marc JohnsonDec 18, 20136 minAir WorstLet’s just say this: I know what the policy should be – no cell phone calls on airplanes. None. Zilch. With so very much glamor involved ...
Marc JohnsonNov 4, 20134 minPower to the PeopleAmong the raft of Executive Orders signed by Roosevelt, and permitted under the Emergency Act, was the creation of the Rural Electrificat...
Marc JohnsonAug 9, 20135 minMy Summer Reading List1913: The World Before the Great War The best book I’ve read in a while is the work of a British historian Charles Emmerson called 1913: ...
Marc JohnsonDec 27, 20123 minGood Reads this Yearstatesman/writer of the 20th – or perhaps any – Century. Over his long life he made serious money as a writer, won the Nobel Prize for hi...
Marc JohnsonJul 30, 20123 minBad History MattersDavid Maraniss, an Associate Editor of The Washington Post, is just out with a completely sourced, deeply researched reporting job called...
Marc JohnsonJul 10, 20124 minThe AnchormanThis may be the most famous photo of the many famous photos of the famous CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite. The grainy, black and white imag...
Marc JohnsonApr 23, 20123 minOnce it WorkedGiven today’s persistent gridlock in Congress, it’s easy to forget that the United States Senate was once a place where bipartisan lawmak...
Marc JohnsonApr 13, 20122 minWeekend ReadsThere is a fascinating piece planned for publication Sunday, and already online, in The New York Times on legendary Lyndon Johnson biogra...
Marc JohnsonMar 27, 20122 minLBJThe steady re-examination and reinterpretation of our 36th president is one of the most interesting developments in the shifting world of...
Marc JohnsonFeb 21, 20122 minThey Also RanIf you recognize the fellow in the photo as the 1924 Democratic candidate for President of the United States you are a trivia master. Tha...
Marc JohnsonFeb 2, 20124 minThe Spy from BoiseYears ago as a very young, very naive reporter, the boss handed me a piece of wire copy ripped straight off the teletype machine and told...
Marc JohnsonFeb 1, 20123 minGeorge KennanYou can be forgiven if you’ve never heard the name George F. Kennan. If you’re under 50, didn’t fixate, as many of us did, on the daily t...
Marc JohnsonJan 5, 20125 minConfidence MenSo many things we associate with the modern American presidency, including its imperial nature, where created by Franklin D. Roosevelt ne...
Marc JohnsonDec 22, 20113 minGood ReadsStill looking for a last minute gift idea? How about a book? It has been a good year for good books. In no particular order, here are ten...
Marc JohnsonDec 1, 20112 minCalvin TrillinCalvin Trillin has covered the civil rights movement, produced some of the best long form journalism in recent times for The New Yorker, ...
Marc JohnsonAug 22, 20112 minThe Paris WifeThere were times while reading Paula McLain’s novel about Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, Hadley Richardson, and their life in that greate...