Tag Archive for ‘Don’t Know Much About Literature’
TODAY IN HISTORY: The Fugitive Slave Act
Congress, in its infinite wisdom, often makes bad law. Today is a reminder of that fundamental truth. When: On September 18, 1890, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which allowed slave owners to reclaim slaves who had escaped to other states. Why: The Fugitive Slave Act was part of a larger “Compromise of 1850,” intended [...]
A Tale of Two Libraries
The headline was a shocker. All Free Library of Philadelphia Branch, Regional and Central Libraries Closed Effective Close of Business October 2, 2009 I read about the possible closing of the Philadelphia Free Library –in the city where Benjamin Franklin helped invent the public library in 1731—with shock, sadness, and dismay. And more than a [...]
Don’t Know Much About the Birmingham Bombings
September 15, like September 11, deserves to be remembered. On this day in 1963, a murderous bombing took the lives of innocent Americans –four children. The terrorist bombers were also Americans –members of the Ku Klux Klan. In recording the bombing 20 years later, Howell Raines once wrote, In the mindlessness of its evil, the [...]
Richard Wright
One of the most powerful reading experiences in my life was discovering the work of Richard Wright when I was a teenager in the 1960s. Like many great writers, Richard Wright offered that vision of truth and reality that can change our perspectives forever. Grandson of slaves, Wright was born this date (September 4) in [...]
Don’t Know Much About Nabokov
Today in 1958, America met Lolita. Vladimir Nabokov’s most sensational novel was first published in New York by G.P. Putnam’s Sons on this date, almost three years after the book was originally published in Paris. It became an instant bestseller. But there’s a lot more to Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) than Lolita. Born into wealth in [...]
Don’t Know Much About the Brontë Sisters
“I lingered round them, under that benign sky: watched the moths fluttering among the heath and harebells;” (Wuthering Heights, 1847) Happy Birthday, Emily Brontë! (Born July 30, 1818) As children, the literary sisters Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë, along with their brother Branwell, created fantasy kingdoms with names like “Gondal” and “Angria,” and made them [...]
Don’t Know Much About “Holden Caulfield”
Holden Caulfield joining AARP! Now there’s a thought. The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16, 1951. So the perennial 17-year-old, prep school dropout has hit his golden years. As another crop of high school students hits their summer reading list, J.D. Salinger’s tale of adolescent alienation is probably still at the top. [...]
