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Truth And Fiction

March 2023
1min read


As an amateur historian and lecturer thereon, I am often asked by my juniors, “What was it like to live in America in the 1960s?” and I reply, “There are no books, fiction or nonfiction, that answer that question as well as two historical novels, James Carroll’s Prince of Peace and George R. R. Martin’s The Armageddon Rag .”

I was surprised—and rather disappointed—that neither was mentioned among the favorite historical novels, while many works of inferior historical value and literary quality received fulsome praise.

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Stories published from "April 1993"

Authored by: Wayne Fields

THIS SPRING, THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY OF JEFFERSON’S BIRTH, RESTORATION BEGINS ON POPLAR FOREST, WHICH HE ONCE CALLED “THE BEST DWELLING HOUSE IN THE STATE, EXCEPT THAT OF MONTICELLO.” WHILE THE WORK PROGESSES, THE HOUSE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, AND ITS GHOSTLY EMPTINESS HEIGHTENS THE SENSE IF ITS ORIGINAL OCCUPANT.

Authored by: The Editors

Watershed of the Nation

Authored by: The Editors

The Songs of Cole Porter

Authored by: The Editors

Cole Porter in the 1930s

Authored by: Henry Wiencek

After half a millennium we scarcely feel the presence of Spain in what is now the United States. But it is all around us.

Authored by: Michael S. Durham

Retracing the Pioneer Trail in Mormon Utah

Authored by: William E. Carnahan

The U.S. Capitol stands where it always has, but the columns that originally held it up have become a hauntingly beautiful monument somewhere else

Authored by: Vance Bourjaily

A novelist joins his ancestor on a trip West and discovers in her daily travails an intimate view of a tremendous national migration

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