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Narrative Artists

March 2023
1min read

The only point on which I disagree with Geoffrey Ward in “Matters of Fact” (December 1987) is in his evaluation of the Civil War historian Shelby Foote as being as good or better a writer than Bruce Catton. At best Foote is as good—and that is still a high compliment.

But both Foote and Catton, as well as Nevins, do their jobs as writers and teachers. They tell the story so well they draw you into the period, make you want to understand and to learn. They learned what more history teachers have to realize—history can be both fascinating and educational.

We hope you enjoy our work.

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Stories published from "March 1988"

Authored by: Ivan E. Prall

You probably haven’t seen it, but it’s out by the tracks of the Chicago & North Western

Authored by: The Editors

The nation’s first subway system was launched here in 1897.

Authored by: Oliver Jensen

A man who has spent his life helping transform old photos from agreeable curiosities into a vital historical tool explains their magical power to bring the past into the present

Authored by: Hiller B. Zobel

Every one of the Founding Fathers was a historian—a historian who believed that only history could protect us from tyranny and coercion. In their reactions to the long, bloody pageant of the English past, we can see mirrored the framers’ intent.

Authored by: Richard C. Ryder

It was discovered in New Jersey in 1858, was made into full-size copies sent as far away as Edinburgh, and had a violent run-in with Boss Tweed in 1871. Now, after fifty years out of view, the ugly brute can be seen in Philadelphia.

Authored by: Benjamin Franklin

Only one man would have had the wit, the audacity, and the self-confidence to make the case

Authored by: Walter Karp

The early critics of television predicted the new medium would make Americans passively obedient to the powers that be. But they badly underestimated us.

Authored by: Jack Rudolph

On their weathered stone battlements can
be read the whole history of the three-century
struggle for supremacy in the New World

Authored by: Daniel Aaron

George Templeton Strong was not a public man, and he is not widely known today. But for forty years he kept the best diary—in both historic and literary terms—ever written by an American.

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